Most Florida hospitals are still noncompliant with federal price transparency law, report finds

By

Nicole Pasia

|

Over 100 Florida hospitals, including some of the state’s largest facilities, were found to be noncompliant with a federal price transparency law under authority of the Affordable Care Act. A newly-released report from PatientAdvocacyRights.org found 80% of Florida hospitals in the study were noncompliant. 

 

Stay one step ahead. Join our email list for the latest news.

Subscribe

 

The Third Semi-Annual Hospital Price Transparency Report analyzed 2,000 accredited hospitals nationwide, including 127 Florida hospitals, from May 17th through July 22nd on if they provide accessible pricing information on health services. 

According to the rule, effective since Jan. 1, 2021, hospital pricing information must have the following available to consumers: 

  • A single machine-readable standard charges file for items and services for all payers and plans, including discounted cash prices
  • A standard charges display with actual prices or a price estimator tool for the 300 most common shoppable services

Hospitals are deemed noncompliant if they are missing 1 or more of 12 indicators in the report. These included price transparency criteria required by the rule, if data fields were incomplete, if they did not provide descriptions of services, or if they did not post actual rates or estimates (posting a pricing formula instead).

Only 319 (16%) of the 2,000 hospitals were compliant as of this month. This is an improvement from July 2021, when just 5.6% of hospitals were compliant nationwide. In July 2021, just 2 out of 49 Florida hospitals (4%) were compliant. However, a majority of hospitals are still noncompliant with the rule 20 months after it became effective.

“Our review of hospital compliance found that consumers are still unable to benefit from the rule due to the continued widespread failure of most hospitals to fully publish their prices across all payers and plans,” the report said. 

Florida’s largest hospitals were found to be noncompliant as of this month. According to rankings from HospitalManagement.net, Orlando Health Orlando Regional Medical Center (ORMC) was the state’s largest hospital in 2021 with 1,738 beds. The price transparency report found ORMC noncompliant for providing an incomplete standard charge file and not providing negotiated rates. 

Jackson Memorial Hospital, with 1,550 beds as of 2021, was noncompliant for the same reasons, as well as failing to provide a price estimate tool (PET). AdventHealth Orlando (1,368 beds) was noncompliant in all criteria except providing a PET with cash prices. Tampa General Hospital (1,041 beds) was the most compliant of these facilities, fulfilling 8 out of 11 indicators. However, it did not provide a complete standard charge file, negotiated rates, or a list of the 300 most shoppable services. 

The Florida Hospital Association did not respond to State of Reform’s request for comment.