This bill establishes the Health Care Cost Containment and Price Transparency Commission and the Office of Healthcare Affordability and Transparency within the New Jersey Department of Health. The Office is tasked with supporting the Commission and addressing health care cost growth through data analytics and public reporting mechanisms. It will set guidelines for health care entities to submit data for evaluating total health care expenditures and pricing information, as well as formulating benchmarks for health care cost growth and hospital prices. The Commission, consisting of 18 members, will monitor and analyze health care prices, establish benchmarks, and impose civil penalties on entities that exceed these benchmarks or fail to comply with corrective action plans.

Additionally, the bill mandates that hospitals comply with federal price transparency requirements and prohibits them from collecting medical debt from patients if they are not in compliance at the time services are provided. Hospitals that violate these provisions will incur a civil penalty of $10 per day per bed. The bill appropriates up to $5 million from the General Fund to support the Office's activities, and it requires the Commissioner of Health to adopt necessary regulations to implement the act. The provisions of the bill will take effect 180 days after enactment.