More Than 500 Hospitals Identified as Noncompliant with Federal Price Transparency Law

The Trump administration's Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services released a public list of more than 500 hospitals in 45 states and the District of Columbia that remain out of compliance with the federal hospital price transparency rule, a requirement Congress established over five years ago. The decision to publish the list — rather than pursue behind-the-scenes corrective action — marked a shift toward public accountability over administrative process.

The Washington Examiner's op-ed, authored by Peter J. Pitts, a former FDA associate commissioner and president of the Center for Medicine in the Public Interest, argued that noncompliance is not a technical failure but a deliberate business decision. Pitts wrote that hospitals already possess the pricing data Congress asked them to disclose — information on what insurers, Medicare, and self-pay patients are charged — and that the barrier to compliance is incentive, not capability.

Pitts described price secrecy as carrying direct economic value for hospitals: it protects negotiating leverage with insurers, shields reimbursement rate differences from employers comparing coverage options, and limits the market force of informed consumers. He argued that until transparency becomes a better business decision than secrecy, noncompliance will persist regardless of additional regulatory guidance.