Four major hospital groups have filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration challenging the rule on healthcare transparency released in November. The rule would require hospitals to disclose their pricing information, including negotiated rates.
The Federation of American Hospitals, the American Hospital Association, the Association of American Medical Colleges, the Children’s Hospital Association and three hospitals filed the suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
The suit stated that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) exceeded their authority with the rule, claiming that the pricing disclosure rule violates the First Amendment.
CMS’ final rule fails to offer patients easy-to-understand information regarding their out-of-pocket obligations for care — so we feel obligated to contest the regulation. We contend the agency exceeded its authority and should go back to the drawing board.”— Chip Kahn, chief executive of the Federation of American Hospitals
The Final Rule
Under the rule, hospitals are required to provide easily accessible billing information to patients by January 1, 2021.
With that said, all standard charges including “gross charges, payer-specific negotiated charges, amount the hospital is willing to accept in cash from a patient, and the minimum and the maximum negotiated charges” would need to be available online and in one single data file.
Hospital groups stated that requiring access to such information “will confuse patients and unduly burden hospitals.”
Trust the Creative Benefits Team to keep you updated on new developments regarding the lawsuit. Questions? Reach out to our team at 866-306-0200 or solutions@creativebenefitsinc.com.