Here are five things to know about the executive order:
1. The order directs HHS and the Labor and Treasury departments to “rapidly implement and enforce” healthcare price transparency enforcement regulations. The order refers to regulations that President Trump introduced during his first term, which he said the Biden administration was “slow walking,” according to a Feb. 25 White House fact sheet.
2. The departments will ensure hospitals and payers disclose actual prices, not estimates, and take action to “make prices comparable across hospitals and insurers, including prescription drug prices.”
3. HHS, Labor and Treasury will also update their respective enforcement policies to ensure hospitals and insurers are in compliance with requirements.
4. President Trump signed an executive order regarding healthcare price transparency in 2019 during his first term. That order directed HHS to develop rules requiring hospitals to publish prices “that reflect what people actually pay for services in a way that’s clear, straightforward and accessible to all.”
5. To date, 18 hospitals have been fined by CMS for alleged price transparency violations
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