# Hospital and ASC Price Transparency Act of 2023

This bill requires hospitals and ambulatory surgical centers (ASCs, which are outpatient surgery facilities) to publicly post their prices so patients can see what they'll be charged before receiving care. Starting January 1, 2026, hospitals must make their pricing information freely available online without requiring anyone to create an account or pay a fee.

Here's what hospitals would need to disclose: the full list of charges for every service they offer, broken down by what they call the "gross charge" (the standard price before any discounts) and the "discounted cash price" (what someone pays if they're paying out of pocket). For at least 300 common procedures that patients can schedule in advance—like knee replacements, cataract surgery, or imaging tests—hospitals must also provide this information in an easy-to-read format. If a hospital has a price estimator tool on its website that lets patients instantly get a quote for their specific insurance plan, they can use that instead of posting all the detailed information separately. The bill also requires hospitals to include any negotiated rates they've agreed to with insurance companies, so patients can see what their insurer actually pays.

Ambulatory surgical centers would face the same requirements but don't have to start complying until January 1, 2028. The government will check on hospitals' compliance at least every three years, and those that fail to post their prices face financial penalties—up to $2 million per year for larger hospitals, and smaller amounts for rural or very small hospitals. The bill aims to give patients real shopping power by letting them compare prices upfront, similar to how they might compare prices for other services, though it acknowledges that emergency care and complex hospital stays may be harder to price in advance.

Hospital and ASC Price Transparency Act of 2023

Steel, Michelle

Hospital and ASC Price Transparency Act of 2023This bill requires Medicare hospitals and ambulatory surgical centers to publish their prices.Specifically, hospitals and ambulatory surgical centers must publish pricing information for at least 300 shoppable services designated by the Centers for Medicare &amp; Medicaid Services (CMS), including the gross charge and discounted cash price. The CMS must establish the method and manner of publication; hospitals and ambulatory surgical centers that have price estimator tools are deemed to be in compliance with the bill's requirements if the tool meets certain specified criteria.Hospitals and ambulatory surgical centers are subject to civil penalties for noncompliance. The CMS must publish information about the status of each hospital and ambulatory surgical center's compliance.The bill provides funds for FY2024 to implement these requirements.