CMS Fines 2 Georgia Hospitals for Non-Compliance with Price Transparency Rule

In the first enforcement action since CMS’s Hospital Price Transparency rule went into effect at the start of last year, the agency on June 7 fined two hospitals in Georgia a total of more than $1 million for non-compliance with price transparency requirements. Health policy experts tell AIS Health, a division of MMIT, that they hope CMS ramps up its enforcement efforts, which could help payers, patients, employers and other stakeholders benefit from price comparison and greater competition.

CMS levied an $883,180 penalty against Northside Hospital in Atlanta and a $214,320 fine against Northside Hospital in the Atlanta suburb of Canton, Ga. The penalties were announced the same week that a research letter published in JAMA revealed that only 5.7% of hospitals had complied with the federal transparency rule between six and nine months after the legislation was enacted on Jan. 1, 2021 — the latest in a series of studies drawing similar conclusions.