# What This Bill Does: Making Healthcare Ownership More Transparent

This bill requires major healthcare organizations to tell the federal government who owns them and how their ownership has changed. Right now, there's no centralized way to track when hospitals, doctor practices, and surgical centers get bought, sold, or merged together. This bill fixes that by creating a mandatory reporting system where these healthcare providers have to submit detailed ownership information to the Department of Health and Human Services, starting in January 2025.

The bill applies to hospitals, large doctor practices with more than 25 physicians, emergency departments, surgical centers, and any medical practices owned by private equity firms or venture capital companies. These organizations will need to report information about mergers and acquisitions, who their parent companies are, and for hospitals specifically, details about their debt levels, real estate dealings, and investment activities. For nonprofit hospitals, they'll also have to disclose information about their investment gains and taxes paid. After collecting this data, the government will publish annual reports showing trends in healthcare consolidation—basically tracking how much healthcare is being bought up by larger companies and private investors.

The bill includes teeth to enforce compliance. If a healthcare organization fails to submit a complete report or submits false information, they can be fined up to $5 million per report. The government will also randomly audit healthcare providers each year to verify they're reporting accurately. The goal is to give regulators, policymakers, and the public better visibility into who's consolidating healthcare and how that might affect competition, prices, and patient care. Right now, these deals often happen quietly without much public scrutiny, so this bill aims to shine a light on the healthcare industry's ownership structure and major business changes.

To amend title XI of the Social Security Act to increase transparency of certain health-related ownership information.

Schakowsky, Janice D.

This bill requires certain health care entities to disclose specific information about their ownership and finances. Specifically, the bill requires entities, subject to civil penalties, to annually report to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) information relating to mergers, acquisitions, and changes in ownership over the previous year, as well as information on the entity's parent company, if applicable. The requirements apply to hospitals, certain ambulatory surgical centers, independent freestanding emergency departments, physician-owned practices that have more than 25 physicians, and physician practices that are owned by a hospital, health plan, private equity company, or venture capital firm. Hospitals must also report information about their business structure, debts, real estate transactions, and certain investments. HHS must post a summary of the reported information on its website, including trends in consolidation.