CMS ramping up enforcement of hospital price transparency rule

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has taken more enforcement actions in the first two months against health systems for not complying with price transparency rules than in all of 2024, but the size of the penalties is dropping.

CMS issued seven notices of monetary penalties during January and February, compared with three for all of 2024. In late February, President Donald Trump signed an executive order  bolstering oversight of price transparency requirements that were enacted in 2021.

CMS assesses the penalties against hospitals that fail to meet requirements of what pricing data must be available on their websites. The notices include the reason for the penalty and the size of the fine.

Hospitals were slow to post data in 2021 and 2022. CMS ramped up enforcement in 2023 with 12 notices. The agency also issued large fines, with UF Health North in Jacksonville, Florida, receiving the highest penalty to date, of $979,000, in August 2023.

Here are the hospitals that have been fined through Feb. 27, the most recent data available, and the size of the penalty.