Nationwide, Texas has the highest number of hospitals warnings (with 42) citing a lack of pricing information for services. CEO of Direct Care Alliance, David Balat says, "It is not that they are breaking the law, they're just not complying with the specifics of an executive order. "It might be formatting; some things might be missing. They just need to get that cleaned up. I think the warning system is working the way it should." Balat said.
The initial warnings are part of a crackdown on healthcare price transparency as part of Trump’s Great Healthcare Plan signed back in December of 2020 - to begin in January of 2021. Balat worked with the administration to implement better pricing guidelines to close the gap for consumer affordability. “So, patients can understand the cost of things like blood work or imaging tests and compare those costs with other nearby hospitals.” He said. Balat says the federal government has given the healthcare providers plenty of time.
Local Hospitals on the list include Ad Hospital East LLC, Atrium Medical Center, CHI St. Luke's Health-Baylor St. Luke's Medical Center, Houston Physicians' Hospital, St. Luke's Patients Medical Center St. Luke’s Sugar Land Hospital, The Menninger Clinic, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and West Oaks Hospital.
At least two of those hospitals—The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and The Menninger Clinic—said this was due to a minor formatting issue and has since been corrected; according to the Houston Chronicle.
Balat says in addition to pricing transparency- the hospitals should disclose the cash price. "It depends, from facility to faculty- because they're setting those rates. I’ve seen it be a 10 percent discount and I’ve seen it up to a 90 percent discount. There's nothing that's consistent and uniform." He said. With hospital systems abiding by the federal law, consumers should be able to search for "pricing transparency" on the hospital website to shop the market.
