Boston Herald Runs PRA Op-Ed on Biden Executive Order Supporting Price Transparency

President Biden recently issued an executive order calling on the Department of Health and Human Services to support the hospital price transparency rule that took effect at the beginning of the year. On Sunday, the Boston Herald ran an op-ed by Cynthia A. Fisher, founder and chair of PatientRightsAdvocate.org, arguing that this order can turn the hospital rule into reality. Cynthia writes:

The order makes good on Biden’s promise in last year’s Biden-Sanders Unity Task Force agenda to promote health care price transparency. It provides bipartisan presidential endorsement of the hospital rule, which clarifies an Obamacare provision requiring hospitals to publish their “standard charges,” allowing consumers to shop for the best care at the best prices.

The order couldn’t come at a better time as numerous recent studies indicate that the vast majority of hospitals aren’t complying with the rule. For instance, studies published last month in Medical Care Research and Review and JAMA estimate that only 20% of American hospitals are following the mandate, which requires them to post upfront their discounted cash prices and secret negotiated rates by payer and plan.

The best way HHS can adhere to Biden’s order to support the rule is by robustly enforcing it and eliminating useless price estimator tools that skirt its spirit….

President Biden’s executive order gives HHS the impetus it needs to turn the hospital price transparency rule into reality. When all hospitals comply, consumers can access real prices that provide financial certainty that a trip to the hospital won’t end in ruinous bills. The power to shop for the roughly 90% of health care spending that’s not for emergencies will empower consumers and usher in a functional, competitive health care marketplace that puts runaway health care cost trends in reverse.

Read the full op-ed in the Boston Herald here.