Georgia hospitals face fines for not posting price information for services on their websites

Caption

Northside Hospital Atlanta.

Credit: Georgia Health News

Five years after the federal Hospital Price Transparency Rule took effect, a new report from the nonprofit Patient Rights Advocate (PRA) finds that 65% of Georgia’s hospitals are complying with federal laws to share cost information with potential patients, which is better than the national average of 49%.

Hospitals are required by law to post all of their prices on their website for all provided procedures, including behavioral health and routine services, such as blood tests and colonoscopies. The organization looked at 2,000 hospitals nationwide; in Georgia, 35 of 54 hospitals complied.

Earlier this year, the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Centers began enforcing its updated requirements. Rates of compliance are increasing due in no small part to tracking and followup, PRA's director of research, Ilaria Wheeler, said, noting CMS sent 500 warning letters to hospitals nationwide earlier this year. 

Georgia hospitals paid fines levied by CMS, including Northside Atlanta and Northside Cherokee, which were fined nearly $1 million for failing to post the cost of services.

"Within two weeks of being hit with these fines, they [Northside] posted the most beautifully compliant price transparency files, and that just shows enforcement works," Wheeler said.

Under the current price transparency rule, hospitals are permitted to post percentages, but that does not provide all necessary information, Wheeler said. 

"This is a huge win for all Georgians that are looking to shop and access price transparent care, right?" Wheeler said. "There is a caveat to that. Not many of them are posting usable pricing information in dollars and cents." 

PRA made the available data more consumer accessible on its website.