CMS Hospital Price Transparency Rule
After years of policy debate on health care price transparency, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has issued a game-changing hospital price transparency regulation. The rule went into effect on January 1, 2021, and applies to any hospital licensed by a state or local authority.
The rule implements a section of the Public Health Service Act (PHSA) that requires hospitals to publish a list of their standard charges each year. Previously, hospitals could comply with the PHSA by publishing their chargemaster list online. Now, the rule tells hospitals precisely what they must publish, and how they must publish it, to comply with the PHSA.