Hospital price transparency: March 2021 update
This report is the first in a series of updates Milliman will publish on the implementation trends for new regulations for hospital price transparency. The regulations, which took effect January 1, 2021, are set to introduce a new level of price transparency in the U.S. healthcare system. For the first time, hospitals and health systems are required to publish price data. To help stakeholders better understand how the industry is responding to these new regulations, Milliman is tracking this price information. This brief for March 2021 provides observations from the first 60 days. The report notes that 68% have posted at least one machine-readable file containing gross charges, discounted cash prices, payer-specific negotiated rates, and de-identified minimum and maximum charges by item/service. Among organizations that posted files, the update also notes there was variation among the scope of the postings, and discusses some of the challenges we are encountering with the published data.