It was recently reported that the Patient Rights Advocate group issued a report regarding New Hampshire hospitals’ noncompliance with federal price transparency requirements (“Most N.H. hospitals noncompliant with federal price transparency rules,” Monitor, 7/23). We disagree with those findings, especially since that report was essentially an advocacy document rather than a quantitative analysis which was clearly intended to put forward an overly broad view of noncompliance.
Its methodology was flawed, counter to the actual federal regulations. For example, that report deems hospitals not compliant if they do not list a particular plan’s negotiated rate for an item or service. In reality, such an omission just signifies that that particular hospital and plan do not have a negotiated rate for that particular item or service.
In another example, one hospital was touted as compliant, but the other two hospitals in that same health system, using the exact same software, were deemed noncompliant. How can that be?
The study also acknowledges it is not possible to fully evaluate the pricing spreadsheets, which affirms that the data, required by the federal government, is unhelpful to consumers. We actually agree with that assessment, as we have long suggested that long laundry lists of prices that are not connected to an individual’s care and treatment are not helpful to consumers.
However, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the federal agency in charge of evaluating compliance with this regulation, will follow its own criteria and we believe will find a much higher rate of compliance through official, ongoing audits.
New Hampshire hospitals and health systems have continued to be national leaders in price transparency and have made it a priority to provide patients with the financial information they need to ensure they can make the most informed decisions about their care.
We have long supported and collaborated with the NH Insurance Department on their NHHealthCost website tool as one of the options that patients can use to evaluate their care and treatment options. Online tools are just one way to access financial information and we encourage anyone to call their hospital to ensure that they receive detailed information unique to their care and treatment needs.
(Steve Ahnen is president of the New Hampshire Hospital Association.)