In 2019, the White House published an executive order requiring hospitals provide price transparency (Price Transparency Rule). That went into effect in January 2021. This means that hospitals are required to make public via the Internet and their website a list of standard fees and charges.
This legislation did not affect ambulatory surgery centers or providers; however, recent state legislation has already started to expand price transparency requirements to apply to surgery centers and even group/individual practices.
In Indiana, a state code now requires ambulatory outpatient surgical centers to start posting its pricing on their websites by no later than December 31, 2021. The initial date originally targeted March 31, 2021 but has been pushed back until the end of the year.
And even just this month, Oklahoma Governor, Kevin Stitt signed a bill that expanded price transparency requirements that includes healthcare providers, group practices and facilities.
“Oklahoma consumers know what it will cost them to get groceries, to get their car serviced, to have repairs done on their homes. Basically, the price of every available product or service is available ahead of time,” Bill Sponsor, Rep. Carol Bush said. “We should expect the same for health care.”
Currently, few states have instituted laws regarding healthcare price transparency and enforcement is still up in the air. However, practices need to keep price transparency on their radar as more states will likely continue considering such legislation.
Check out our recent Insider Interview with Jonathan Kaplan, a San Francisco plastic surgeon and founder of BuildMyBod, a plastic surgery/healthcare platform that captures leads, while providing visitors comprehensive pricing data that is custom to your practice.
MedShark Insider: Leveraging Price Transparency in Marketing
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