Pillar 08

Price Transparency

Hospital price files · Shoppable services · Insurer disclosure

ModerateFAH moved from suing to block disclosure to lobbying for regulatory stability and steering the 2026 bills toward insurers. CMS fined one hospital in 2026 despite 500-plus warnings.

Last verified November 6, 2026

FAH position

FAH says it supports transparency that gives patients meaningful information. It asks CMS to keep the hospital rules in their current form and tells Congress that patients' costs are dictated primarily by insurers.

Where it stands

Status as of November 2026

February 25, 2025Executive Order 14221 directed Treasury, Labor and HHS within 90 days to require disclosure of actual prices, not estimates, and to enforce the 2019 order. source
November 21, 2025CMS's CY2026 outpatient final rule requires machine-readable files to add median, 10th and 90th percentile allowed amounts in dollars. Files must also carry an attestation naming a responsible senior official and the hospital's NPI. Enforcement began April 1, 2026. source
November 4, 2026The CY2027 proposed rule asked about standardizing machine-readable files and deemed compliance for price estimator tools. The November 4, 2026 final rule fact sheet announces no new hospital price transparency requirement. source
June 3, 2026CMS's enforcement page lists 28 hospitals fined since 2022: ten in 2025 and one in 2026, Pinnacle Hospital in Indiana. Becker's reports more than 500 hospitals received warning notices or corrective action requests in 2026. source
July 27, 2026Four bills cleared committee in July 2026: H.R. 9393 (45 to 0) and H.R. 9390 (24 to 21) in Energy and Commerce, H.R. 9645 (25 to 15) in Ways and Means, and S. 2355 (21 to 1) in Senate HELP. They split on whether a price estimator tool satisfies the shoppable services requirement. source

Legislation

Bills in the 119th Congress

Bill	Title	Sponsor	Cosponsors	Status
S. 2355	Patients Deserve Price Tags Act	Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KS)	25 (14 D, 11 R)	Reported by HELP July 22, 2026; on the Senate calendar (2026-09-25)
H.R. 9393	Lower Costs, More Transparency Act of 2026	Rep. Brett Guthrie (R-KY), with Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ)	1	Ordered reported by Energy and Commerce 45 to 0, July 21, 2026 (2026-08-21)
H.R. 9645	Health Care Price Certainty for All Americans Act	Rep. Jason Smith (R-MO)	0	Ordered reported by Ways and Means 25 to 15, July 15, 2026 (2026-08-26)
H.R. 9390	Prices on the Wall Act of 2026	Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-IA)	1	Ordered reported by Energy and Commerce 24 to 21, July 21, 2026 (2026-08-21)

FAH on the record

Letters, comments and statements

July 21, 2025FAH's response to CMS's price transparency inquiry: it does not recommend further regulatory changes at this time. It asks CMS to maintain the hospital rules in their current form. source
September 15, 2025FAH's CY2026 outpatient comment says it continues to support transparency, but publishing vast amounts of hospital reimbursement data does not help patients. source
June 10, 2026FAH statement after the House Energy and Commerce transparency hearing: patients' costs are dictated primarily by insurers' benefit design and coverage decisions. source
June 25, 2026FAH statement on the subcommittee markup: duplicative and impractical hospital reporting requirements will not help patients. source
July 15, 2026FAH statement on the Ways and Means markup: meaningful transparency requires health plans to provide accurate, real-time information. source
July 21, 2026FAH statement on the Energy and Commerce full committee markup backs the insurer-side disclosure provisions. source
August 31, 2026FAH's CY2027 outpatient comment says the current machine-readable file approach does not give patients usable pricing. source

The evidence

•AHA v. Azar: FAH was a named plaintiff in the December 4, 2019 suit against the hospital price transparency rule. The district court ruled for HHS June 23, 2020; the D.C. Circuit affirmed December 29, 2020. source
•CMS penalty schedule: $300 a day for hospitals of 30 beds or fewer. Hospitals of 31 to 550 beds pay $10 per bed per day. Above 550 beds it is $5,500 a day. source
•Of 28 hospitals fined since 2022, one was fined in 2026, for $51,615. source

What it means for physicians

An independent practice competes on price only if the hospital's price is public and real. FAH lost the lawsuit, then shifted to a quieter strategy: freeze the hospital rules, point at insurers, and call any new hospital duty duplicative. With one fine in 2026, the hospital files stay unreliable, and the price comparison a patient could make stays out of reach.

Sources