President signs executive order on price transparency
The White House released an this week intended to introduce price transparency to medical billing. The order the Department of Health and Human Services and other agencies to write rules that detail what precisely must be disclosed. The American Hospital Association (AHA) to the announcement with a statement from Rick Pollack, AHA president and CEO, saying, 鈥淎merica鈥檚 hospitals and health systems strongly support equipping patients with the information they need to make informed decisions about their care and its cost.鈥 At the same time, the statement points out, 鈥淸I]t鈥檚 important to note that hospitals already provide consumers with information on pricing, but publicly posting privately negotiated rates could, in fact, undermine the competitive forces of private market dynamics, and result in increased prices.鈥 Some scholars agree, citing case studies where increased price transparency prices to rise.