Hospitals fight price transparency

The New York Times has reported that as expected, hospitals have filed a lawsuit against CMS' requirements that hospitals post prices of various procedures. It appears that the main argument is that the hospitals will face extensive administrative burden in making this information available.

Other industries have likewise complained about administrative burden (e.g. the mobile phone carriers industry complaining about how supporting phone number portability would increase costs). In what might be an foreboding sign for CMS' requirements, a federal court earlier ruled that the Department of Health and Human Services did indeed overstep its legal authority when requiring pharmaceutical manufacturers to disclose drug prices in television ads. It might be that Congress needs to take action to enforce compliance.