Trump Signs EO Asking for Updated Hospital Price Transparency Enforcement Plan

Last week, President Donald Trump issued an executive order aimed at the Departments of Health and Human Services (HHS), Treasury and Labor that would create an enforcement mechanism for the 2019 executive order on hospital price transparency.

The executive order modifies the demands of the original 2019 directive, including an updated requirement that hospitals disclose actual prices for services instead of estimates and provide information in a manner that is standardized and easily comparable across hospitals and health plans. According to Healthcare Dive, the order estimates that posting prices will compel hospitals to reduce costs for their most expensive procedures and equip patients with the information required to “shop around” for healthcare services.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) have already issued civil monetary penalties for noncompliance with existing Hospital Price Transparency Rules, but the order appears to intend to escalate that type of enforcement action, National Law Review explains. The EO specifies that federal agencies should return a framework for enforcement within 90 days, at which point hospitals and health plans should expect further guidance from the agencies.

Late last year, Patient Rights Advocate released a study that found that the percentage of hospitals in full compliance with price transparency rules fell from 34.5% in February to 21.1% in November. The report attributed the slipping compliance to a rollback of stricter requirements included in the 2024 OPPS Final Rule.

In October, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) similarly found that the inclusion of unusually high or low prices in the data submitted rendered the data less useful and raised concerns among health plans and employers about the quality of data that hospitals are providing. GAO recommended a check of data completeness and accuracy during rule enforcement.

The president’s full executive order on hospital price transparency enforcement can be read at WhiteHouse.gov.