Only 16% of Hospitals Comply With The Federal Hospital Price Transparency Law
Approximately 20 months after the Federal Hospital Price Transparency Law went into effect, around three-quarters of hospitals in Georgia continue hiding the costs of care from patients. The 2022 Semi-Annual Hospital Price Transparency Compliance Report by Patients Rights Advocate found that a measly 16% of hospitals follow the requirements for giving out pricing data to consumers. The report also revealed that a whopping 78% of Georgia hospitals don’t comply with the law.
The report reviewed 2,000 hospitals in the U.S. and found that 5.1% do not post standard charges, and 16% of the hospitals are non-compliant. What’s more alarming is that despite these low compliance rates, two hospitals, both in Georgia, have been penalized so far.
The Northside Hospital Atlanta received a fine of $883,180, and the Northside Hospital Cherokee received a fine of $214,320. After the fines were issued on June 7, both hospitals updated their standard charges documentation and were considered compliant by July 1.
What Exactly is The Hospital Price Transparency Law?
The main purpose of the Hospital Price Transparency Law is to establish a competitive and functional market in healthcare to enable patients to benefit from fair competition and reduce their expenses for medical coverage and care.
Under the law, all hospitals must provide a digital, machine-readable file that specifies the charges for all the services and items they offer. The charges must include discounted cash prices, gross charges, negotiated payer-specific charges, and negotiated de-identified maximum and minimum charges.
To ensure full compliance with the law, hospitals must likewise display a list of at least 300 services that patients can schedule in advance. This list must be consumer-friendly, which means that it must be written in simple language that most people can easily understand.
How The Hospital Price Transparency Rule Can Help Accident Victims
This law can be a powerful tool for people who have been injured in accidents for determining what the hospital has been doing and what people are being charged with. For example, it may help reveal when a hospital is charging something at full price or if it is charging at a discounted price that they have negotiated with a health insurance company.
In addition, it may help expose instances of upcoding, in which the hospital bills a patient for an expensive procedure even if the patient did not receive the exact procedure, but a similar procedure that comes with a lower price. Further, the transparency law may help injured victims identify fees that are duplicative, erroneous, unnecessary, or plain nonsense.
Seek Legal Guidance From a Skilled Georgia Personal Injury Lawyer Now
If someone else’s negligent actions left you seriously injured or if a loved one lost their life, you are legally entitled to file a claim to recoup all of your losses from the at-fault party. To discuss your specific situation and what our Georgia personal injury lawyers can do for you, contact Banks, Stubbs & McFarland and schedule your free consultation by calling 770-887-1209 or reaching us online.