Bill > S729

This bill amends the Public Health Service Act to strengthen hospital price transparency requirements by mandating that all hospitals operating in the United States establish and publicly disclose a list of their prices within 6 months of the bill's enactment, and update this list annually. For newly operating hospitals, they must comply with this requirement within 6 months of beginning operations. The bill explicitly prohibits hospitals from hiding this pricing information through webpage coding techniques and establishes a graduated civil monetary penalty system for non-compliance based on hospital size: hospitals with 30 or fewer beds would be fined $600 per non-compliant day, hospitals with 31-550 beds would be fined $20 per bed per non-compliant day, and hospitals with more than 550 beds would be fined $11,000 per non-compliant day. Hospitals must pay these penalties within 60 calendar days of receiving a notice, and the Secretary of Health and Human Services is required to publish a list of non-compliant hospitals every 180 days, starting 280 days after the bill's enactment. The goal of this legislation is to increase transparency in healthcare pricing and help patients understand potential medical costs before receiving treatment.

Health and Social Services

https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/729/all-info