Hospitals Push Back on Price Transparency
Health Care

Hospitals Push Back on Price Transparency

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The Trump administration is delaying a rule that would make hospital prices more transparent. In July, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services proposed requiring hospitals to reveal the secret rates they negotiated with insurers, but a final rule on the requirement has been postponed, according to regulations released Friday.

Hospitals and insurers reportedly pushed hard against the proposal during the comment period, and their effort appears to have paid off. “The delay of the transparency rule is a win for payers and providers, who were for the most part adamantly opposed to revealing negotiated rates,” said Samantha Liss of Healthcare Dive. “It would have been a landmark shift for the healthcare system.”

More generally, the move suggests that industry players are succeeding in their efforts to resist increased regulation. “The health care industry is winning almost every major policy battle in the Trump administration,” said Axios’s Bob Herman.

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