I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3965 

To amend the Public Health Service Act to provide for enhancements to 

requirements for public disclosure of hospital price data. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 25, 2019 

Mr. LIPINSKI introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To amend the Public Health Service Act to provide for 

enhancements to requirements for public disclosure of 

hospital price data. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Hospital Price Trans5 parency and Disclosure Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. ENHANCING PUBLIC DISCLOSURE OF HOSPITAL 

7 PRICE DATA. 

8 Section 2718(e) of the Public Health Service Act is 

9 amended— 


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1 (1) by striking ‘‘CHARGES.—Each hospital’’ 

2 and inserting ‘‘CHARGES.— 

3 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Each hospital’’; and 

4 (2) by adding at the end the following new 

5 paragraphs: 

6 ‘‘(2) FORMAT.—The guidelines developed under 

7 paragraph (1) shall provide that all standard 

8 charges described in paragraph (1) are published in 

9 a uniform, machine-readable format. 

10 ‘‘(3) PUBLIC POSTING OF DATA.— 

11 ‘‘(A) PUBLIC POSTING OF DATA.—The 

12 guidelines developed under paragraph (1) shall 

13 provide that the standard charges described in 

14 paragraph (1) shall be made public by hospitals 

15 through a process specified by the Secretary 

16 under which the standard charges are sub17 mitted by the hospitals to the Secretary and the 

18 Secretary promptly posts the standard charges 

19 on the official public Internet site of the De20 partment of Health and Human Services. Such 

21 data shall be set forth in a manner that pro22 motes charge comparison among hospitals and 

23 in a manner that compares the price data for 

24 an item or service submitted by the hospital 

25 with the price payable for the same item or 


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1 service under title XVIII of the Social Security 

2 Act. 

3 ‘‘(B) ACCESS.—In carrying out subpara4 graph (A), the Secretary shall create applica5 tion programming interfaces and take any other 

6 necessary steps to facilitate access to data sub7 mitted pursuant to paragraph (1) to third par8 ties seeking to present such data in a con9 sumer-friendly format. 

10 ‘‘(C) NOTICE OF AVAILABILITY.—Each 

11 hospital required to submit data under this sub12 section shall prominently post at each admis13 sion site of the hospital a notice of the avail14 ability of the data so submitted on the official 

15 public Internet site under subparagraph (A). 

16 ‘‘(4) CIVIL MONETARY PENALTY.—The Sec17 retary may impose a civil monetary penalty of not 

18 more than $10,000 for each knowing violation of 

19 paragraph (1) or (3)(C) by a hospital. The provi20 sions of subsection (i)(2) of section 351A shall apply 

21 with respect to civil monetary penalties under this 

22 paragraph in the same manner as such provisions 

23 apply to civil monetary penalties under subsection 

24 (i)(1) of such section. 


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1 ‘‘(5) METHOD FOR DETERMINING ACTUAL

2 CHARGE.—Not later than 18 months after the date 

3 of the enactment of the Hospital Price Transparency 

4 and Disclosure Act, the Secretary shall pursuant to 

5 rulemaking develop a method to determine and make 

6 publicly available information on total amounts actu7 ally negotiated for and charged by a hospital to pa8 tients for the items and services appearing on its 

9 standard charge list, and accepted by the hospital as 

10 payment in full. In determining the method for the 

11 disclosure of such negotiated charges, the Secretary 

12 may take steps to reduce the risk of the anti-com13 petitive use of such data or market collusion, such 

14 as by using averages, ranges, rankings, trends, or 

15 other means as the Secretary determines reasonable. 

16 ‘‘(6) REPORTS.—Beginning not later than 18 

17 months after the date of the enactment of the Hos18 pital Price Transparency and Disclosure Act, and 

19 annually thereafter, the Secretary shall make public 

20 on the Internet site described in paragraph (3)(A) a 

21 report analyzing trends in standard and negotiated 

22 charges over time, analyzing trends in standard and 

23 negotiated rates relative to Medicare payments, and 

24 providing recommendations as needed on statutory 


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1 changes to increase medical price transparency and 

2 public insight into health care pricing.’’. 

Æ 


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