Price Transparency: Challenges and Solutions for Hospitals

The call for healthcare price transparency is growing louder, with seemingly obvious benefits. Patients, knowing what they’ll owe, can make informed decisions about their care and how they’ll pay for it. Providers can build trusting relationships and increase the likelihood of getting paid in full for services rendered.

Progress, however, has been slow, despite the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) requirement that hospitals publish standard charges online and update them at least annually. While the rule was well-intended, many hospitals complied by simply posting thousands of chargemaster rates. Not only is the information meaningless to most consumers, 58 percent of hospitals in a 2019 survey said it created more confusion. Patients, after all, don’t buy individual healthcare products and services; they buy bundles of supplies, services and providers for each episode of care.