WASHINGTON (February 25, 2025) – WASHINGTON – Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) today reintroduced the Hospital Transparency Compliance Enforcement Act to increase penalties for hospitals that hide the true costs of their items and services from patients.
“It’s unfair for hospitals to keep the costs of their services hidden from patients. My Hospital Transparency Compliance Enforcement Act would make sure that health care providers make their prices publicly available and understandable for Americans seeking care,” said Kennedy.
The Trump administration’s Hospital Price Transparency Rule, which went into effect in January 2021, requires hospitals to establish and make public a list of the prices that they charge for items and services. Hospitals must also display charges in a consumer-friendly manner. A November 2024 study of 2,000 hospitals found that only 421—or 21%—were fully compliant.
Currently, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) requires non-compliant hospitals with 30 or fewer beds to pay a penalty of $300 per day, those with 31 to 550 beds to pay between $310 and $5,500 per day and those with more than 550 beds to pay $5,500 per day.
The Hospital Transparency Compliance Enforcement Act would:
- Double the current government penalties on non-compliant hospitals. Penalties would increase to $600 per day for hospitals with 30 or fewer beds, $620 to $11,000 per day for hospitals with 31 to 550 beds and $11,000 per day for hospitals with more than 550 beds.
- Require all hospitals to comply with the higher penalties within six months of the law’s passage.
- Prohibit hospitals from shielding information on their websites using webpage coding.
- Give non-compliant hospitals 60 days after notice of non-compliance to pay their monetary penalty.
- Require CMS to publish the names of hospitals that have not complied.
Kennedy first introduced the bill in 2022.
Text of the Hospital Transparency Compliance Enforcement Act is available here.
