Of the 31 hospitals in Colorado, 21 comply with the federal rule, which was passed almost four years ago.
Hospitals were meant to begin reporting all price transparency information, including standard charges, gross charges, discounted cash prices and payer-specific negotiated rates with insurance companies, by 2021. However, nearly 800 hospitals were issued notices for failure to comply by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services as of 2023, and only four facilities have been placed on a corrective-action plan designed to create compliance.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services — soon to be under the leadership of Dr. Mehmet Oz when the incoming Trump administration takes the White House — lowered transparency standards this year, giving hospitals the option to list estimated prices instead of actual dollars and cents, though a 2022 state law in Colorado still requires full disclosure for facilities in the state.
Because of the lowered requirements, PRA's report argues that many hospitals in compliance with the federal transparency law still aren't really providing people with the knowledge they need to determine their health-care costs.
Across the country, the picture is even bleaker than in Colorado, with just 21.1 percent of the 2,000 hospitals analyzed by PRA meeting requirements. That's fewer hospitals in compliance than in 2023, when PRA found that 34.5 percent met requirements.
"Zero hospitals reviewed owned by Ascension, AdventHealth, Kaiser Permanente, Bon Secours Mercy, and Mercy were found to be fully compliant," the PRA report notes. "Nearly four years have passed since the Hospital Price Transparency Rule took effect, and our analysis suggests that the majority of hospitals remain noncompliant with the rule."
PRA's report calls for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to start strongly enforcing the price transparency law.
"Only true transparency in the form of all prices in dollars-and-cents — not estimates, averages or formulas — across all payers and plans including the discounted cash price will enable a robust competitive market, giving patients the ability to access upfront prices at their fingertips," the report argues."The resulting functional, competitive marketplace will empower consumers to lower their costs of care and coverage and greatly reduce national health expenditures."
In Colorado, Governor Jared Polis's administration worked with PRA to launch the Colorado Hospital Price Finder to enable transparency and competition for health care in the state.
But because of a lack of disclosure from hospitals and insurance providers, the tool isn't very effective right now. Westword tested the tool, finding a myriad of difficulties in price comparisons of various procedures at Denver Health and Intermountain Healthcare Saint Joseph Hospital.
Non-Compliant Colorado Hospitals:
AdventHealth AvistaAdventHealth Castle Rock
AdventHealth Littleton
AdventHealth Parker
AdventHealth Porter
Centennial Hospital
CommonSpirit - Longmont United Hospital
Good Samaritan Medical Center
Lutheran Medical Center
Montrose Regional Hospital
Platte Valley Medical Center
Saint Joseph Hospital
St. Mary's Hospital and Medical Center
St. Francis Hospital
