New Report Exposes Egregious Lack of Price Transparency from Hospitals Nationwide

Today, PatientRightsAdvocate.org (PRA), released a new Interim Semi-Annual Report exposing hospitals that are leaving consumers without the fairness and financial certainty real prices provide.

Despite federal transparency rules that took effect four and a half years ago and polling showing that 9-in-10 Americans support price transparency, many hospitals have stopped publishing actual prices in dollars and cents and instead posted estimates, percents, and algorithms, which are uninterpretable by everyday consumers.

“Our Interim Semi-Annual Report exposes the most egregious practices by hospitals nationwide that are hiding their prices and forcing Americans to sign a blank check. Four and a half years after the federal healthcare price transparency rule took effect, hospitals and insurers continue to flout the law,” said Founder and Chairman of PRA Cynthia A. Fisher. “We deserve prices, and with swift action from the Trump Administration, all Americans will be one step closer to radical transparency, accountability, and lower costs.

The report concludes with recommendations to improve the quality and accuracy of pricing data in the machine-readable files (MRFs) as well as technical suggestions to enable the technology needed for consumers to identify the vast price variation both within and across hospitals and make informed decisions to lower their costs.

In conjunction with the report, PRA also submitted a comment letter to CMS in response to its proposed 2026 OPPS rule. The letter offers specific recommendations to strengthen and enforce the Hospital Price Transparency Rule to make it more useful and impactful for all healthcare consumers – patients, employers, unions, and taxpayers.

Key Findings:

• 43% of reviewed hospitals are posting fewer prices now than last year in PRA’s November 2024 report.

• 236 of reviewed hospitals failed to post any prices in actual dollars and cents.

• 1,501 (75%) of reviewed hospitals posted algorithms that require interpretation by a contract expert.

• 1,000 (50%) of reviewed hospitals posted algorithms that are unquantifiable due to ambiguity or missing information.

• Across hospitals that are posting pricing information, PRA found wide price variation.

• Prices within the same hospitals varied as much as 40.2x.

  • Cervical Spinal Fusion at University of Kansas Hospital Main Campus:

    • Low price: $650.00

    • High price: $26,100.59

• Prices across hospitals in the same state varied as much as 468.8x.

  • Mammogram of Both Breasts in Florida:

    • Low price: $32.00 at Cleveland Clinic Martin North

    • High price: $15,000.00 at HCA Florida North Florida Hospital