President Donald Trump on Feb. 25 issued a new executive order, Making America Healthy Again by Empowering Patients with Clear, Accurate, and Actionable Healthcare Pricing Information. The executive order directs the secretaries of the Treasury, Labor, and Health and Human Services to rapidly implement his 2019 executive order, Improving Price and Quality Transparency in American Healthcare To Put Patients First.
Both executive orders aim to promote transparency and eliminate surprise billing in health care costs to patients by providing prices for up to 300 shoppable services (services that can be scheduled in advance). The orders aim to provide patients with the true costs of all hospital services and prescription drugs from hospitals and their insurer.
The 2024 executive order directs action to:
- Require the disclosure of the actual prices of items and services, not estimates
- Issue updated guidance or proposed regulatory action ensuring pricing information is standardized and easily comparable across hospitals and health plans
- Issue guidance or proposed regulatory action updating enforcement policies designed to ensure compliance with the transparent reporting of complete, accurate, and meaningful data.
The 2019 executive order also requires an advance notice of proposed rulemaking) soliciting comment on a proposal to require health care providers, health insurance issuers, and self-insured group health plans to provide or facilitate access to information about expected out-of-pocket costs for items or services to patients before they receive care.
Contact Director of Policy Rob Nelb, MPH, at rnelb@essentialhospitals.org or 202.585.0127 with questions.
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