The Hill features PRA OP-ED about hospitals pushing for higher prices while hiding rates from consumers.

The cost of healthcare is once again on the rise as American hospitals are reportedly looking to increase their prices by up to 15 percent. Cynthia A. Fisher, PRA founder and chair, recently penned an OP-ED stating that before any hospital raises its prices, it should actually become compliant with the price transparency law.

In her Op-Ed she explains:

Hospitals are justifying their higher prices by pointing to higher salaries for nurses. But this math doesn’t add up. Hospitals charge on average seven times their cost of care. Leaked hospital pricing data published in the Los Angeles Times revealed that area hospitals automatically applied a 675 percent markup to their expenses.

Nurses’ salaries only make up around 25 percent to 30 percent of hospitals’ costs. And their base pay increased by 9 percent over the last year. Even if the nurses’ compensation is (deservedly) rising in line with broader inflation, that’s no justification to significantly raise hospital prices. Hospitals are using nurses as a Trojan horse to further gouge American healthcare consumers and increase their already outrageous hidden markups.

Some hospitals claim “transparency” demonstrates that pricing is competitive. This rhetoric doesn’t reflect reality, as shown in a recent study by PatientRightsAdvocate.org which looked at how hospitals nationwide are complying with a federal hospital price transparency rule that took effect on Jan. 1, 2021. The order requires hospitals to publish their actual prices, including discounted cash and all negotiated insurance rates by payer and plan.

Read the full op-ed on The Hill’s website.