The proposed Hospital Transparency Act aims to improve price transparency in healthcare by mandating that hospitals publicly disclose the prices for various services and items. It requires healthcare facilities to maintain and share a comprehensive list of standard charges, including gross charges, negotiated charges, and discounted cash prices, all made available in a machine-readable format on their websites. Additionally, hospitals must provide a consumer-friendly list of at least 300 shoppable services with specific pricing details. The Department of Health Facilities will oversee compliance, imposing administrative penalties for non-compliance and creating a publicly accessible list of penalized facilities.

The bill also establishes regulations regarding compliance with corrective action plans and price transparency laws. It mandates that the Department of Health Facilities impose penalties on hospitals that fail to respond to corrective action requests or do not comply with submitted plans, with fines based on bed count and gross revenues. Furthermore, hospitals not in material compliance with price transparency laws are prohibited from initiating collection actions against patients for debts incurred. Patients can contest such actions through lawsuits, and if a hospital is found non-compliant, it must refund payments and dismiss related court actions. The bill clarifies that while hospitals can still bill patients, they cannot pursue collections during the lawsuit process.

Statutes affected:
Introduced Version: 26-12-1, 26-12-2, 26-12-3, 26-12-4, 26-12-5, 26-12-6, 26-12-7, 26-12-8, 26-12-9, 26-12-10, 26-12-11, 26-12-12