Bloomberg News reports that only 14.3% of hospitals are compliant with the Healthcare Transparency Rule
There's no question about it. Hospitals DO NOT want you to know what their "charges" are or what "discounts" they negotiate with various insurance carriers or even what their cash discounts are. Why? They do not want you to shop around for your healthcare costs.
Here's a prime example. A hospital in Tifton, GA, charges $306.67 for a lipid panel (lab test that checks your cholesterol/triglycerides) or that the cash pay price for that test is $266.80. They certainly don't want you to know that you can drive 20 miles north to Ocilla, GA and get the SAME test for a charge of $79 with a cash pay price of $39! They do not want you to know that taking an extra 20 minutes will save you $227.80!
Here's another example. The same hospital in Tifton charges $2725.27 for an ECG (also known as EKG) and has a cash price of $2370.98. The hospital in Ocilla actually charges more for that procedure at $2810.00 BUT their cash discount price is much lower at $1405.00. Another savings of $965.00 just by driving 20 miles.
It's not only complex and designed to be complex - it's infuriating! It is worthy to note that the hospital in Tifton isn't always the highest charge or even has the highest cash pay price. For example, if you need to go to the Emergency Room for a very severe illness/injury, you'll save $114 by going to the hospital in Tifton vs. the one in Ocilla but who cares about that - if you need an Emergency Room, you go to the nearest facility.
The moral of the story is there is absolutely no rhyme or reason to hospital pricing, no two are alike (except in some cases where the hospitals are owned by the same hospital system) and the hospitals don't want you to have the chance to figure out how or where to spend your hard earned dollars.
This is but ONE reason that we do what we do. To help you and your employees (and anyone else) to understand or know how best to spend their healthcare dollars.