Company: UHS
Filing Date: 2025-02-26
Form Type: 10-K
Source: 0000950170-25-027785
Chunk: 133

Company: UNIVERSAL HEALTH SERVICES INC
Filing Date: 2025-02-26
Form: 10-K
Item: Item 1B
Chunk 133
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 2.4% which includes a 3.0% increase to behavioral health division partial hospitalization rates.

In November, 2019, CMS finalized its Hospital Price Transparency rule that implements certain requirements under the June 24, 2019 Presidential Executive Order related to Improving Price and Quality Transparency in American Healthcare to Put Patients First. Under this final rule, effective January 1, 2021, CMS will require: hospitals to make public: (1) their standard changes (both gross charges and payer-specific negotiated charges) for all items and services online in a machine-readable format, and; (2) standard charge data for a limited set of “shoppable services” the hospital provides in a form and manner that is more consumer friendly. On 

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November 2, 2021, CMS released a final rule increasing the monetary penalty that CMS can impose on hospitals that fail to comply with the price transparency requirements. We believe that our hospitals are in full compliance with the applicable federal regulations. In November, 2023, CMS finalized multiple provisions, effective as of January 1, 2024, focused on increasing hospital price transparency and compliance enforcement including but not limited to: (1) standard charges data would be posted online using a CMS template, instead of using the hospital’s own form/format; (2) all standard charge information would be encoded with a specified set of data elements (e.g., hospital name; license number; payer/plan name; description of service; billing codes, among others); (3) other technical changes related to increasing consumers’ automated accessibility to hospital standard charges, and; (4) certifications regarding accuracy of standard charge data and related compliance warning notices from CMS and requiring accessibility to health system leadership regarding transparency noncompliance.

In September, 2024, the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services and the Treasury published final rules that:

•Mandate that insurers analyze the outcomes of their coverage to ensure there's equivalent access to mental health care, including provider networks, prior authorization rates and payment for out-of-network providers, and take action to get in compliance;

•Establish when health plans can’t use prior authorization or other tactics to make it more difficult to access mental health and substance use treatment, and;

•Require additional insurers to comply with the 2008 Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act.

While these rules will likely improve patient access to inpatient and outpatient mental health services, we are unable to estimate the related potential impact on our results of operations.

Medicaid