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Senate Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
Senate of Pennsylvania
Session of 2023 - 2024
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | June 10, 2024 02:08 PM |
|---|---|
| From: | Senator Jarrett Coleman and Sen. Maria Collett |
| To: | All Senate members |
| Subject: | Hospital Price Transparency |
| Many of our constituents have horror stories around being blindsided by an unexpectedly high hospital bill. A federal price transparency rule that took effect in January 2021 requires hospitals to provide clear, accessible pricing information online about the items and services they provide. A 2023 study completed by the Pennsylvania Health Access Network found that only half of Pennsylvania’s hospitals were in compliance with federal price transparency rules. This is completely unacceptable. To address this problem, we will be introducing legislation requiring hospitals to provide the public with easy to find, and search, price information. This legislation will be a companion bill to HB 2339, which was recently introduced in the House with bipartisan support. State legislation can fill the gap and drastically improve compliance in Pennsylvania. Codifying the federal rule at the state level can add another enforcement mechanism to improve compliance across Pennsylvania’s hospitals. The bill will require hospitals to maintain a publicly available list of all standard charges for all hospital items or services. Hospitals will be required to display their lists free of charge in a prominent location (or link) on the home page of their publicly accessible website. Hospitals which fail to comply with the requirements of the bill will be prohibited from collection actions towards patients with outstanding debts, including reporting an individual’s case to a consumer reporting agency. These provisions are not meant to allow patients to avoid paying for hospitals services. However, patients should not be subject to collection and reporting actions if a hospital fails to abide by price transparency rules. We hope that you will join us in sponsoring this important piece of legislation to help Pennsylvanians make better informed choices when it comes to the cost of their healthcare. |