PatientRightsAdvocate.org’s Response to GAO Report

Today, Cynthia Fisher, Founder and Chairman of PatientRightsAdvocate.org, released the following statement on the GAO’s new report on CMS’s implementation of federal healthcare price transparency requirements:

“The GAO’s report and recommendations are a significant step forward in holding hospitals accountable for their ongoing noncompliance with the hospital price transparency rule that took effect nearly four years ago. In our latest compliance report, PatientRightsAdvocate.org finds that only 34.5% of hospitals are fully complying with all facets of the rule, including the requirement to post all negotiated rates by health insurance company and plan. Healthcare consumers, including patients, unions, and employers, need this actual price information to avoid overcharges, shop for fair-market care, and benefit from competition. The GAO’s report calling on CMS to fully assess the accuracy and completion of hospital price files will improve enforcement of this rule and help usher in meaningful price transparency needed to reduce runaway healthcare costs.” - Cynthia Fisher, Founder and Chairman of PatientRightsAdvocate.org

In the report, GAO recommended the following:

The Administrator of CMS should assess whether hospital price transparency machine-readable files are sufficiently complete and accurate to be usable for supporting CMS’s program goal and implement any additional cost-effective enforcement activities as needed. Such an assessment could include soliciting stakeholder feedback or conducting a study of hospital file completeness and accuracy.

Read the full version of GAO’s  Health Care Transparency report here. Read more about PatientRightsAdvocate.org.