I 
116TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 7676 
To amend the Public Health Service Act to provide for hospital and insurer 
price transparency. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 20, 2020 
Mr. FLORES
(for himself, Mr. GALLAGHER, Mr. WESTERMAN, Mrs. 
HARTZLER, Mr. GOHMERT, and Mr. PALMER) 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 
hospital and insurer price transparency. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Health Care Prices 
Revealed and Information to Consumers Explained Trans-
parency Act’’ or the ‘‘Health Care PRICE Transparency 
Act’’. 
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SEC. 2. PRICE TRANSPARENCY REQUIREMENTS. 
(a) HOSPITALS.—Section 2718(e) of the Public 
Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 300gg–18(e)) is amend-
ed— 
(1) by striking ‘‘Each hospital’’ and inserting 
the following: 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Each hospital’’; 
(2) by inserting ‘‘, in a machine-readable for-
mat, via open application program interfaces 
(APIs)’’ after ‘‘a list’’; 
(3) by inserting ‘‘, along with such additional 
information as the Secretary may require with re-
spect to such charges for purposes of promoting 
public awareness of hospital pricing in advance of 
receiving a hospital item or service’’ before the pe-
riod; and 
(4) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(2) DEFINITION
OF
STANDARD
CHARGES.— 
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, for pur-
poses of paragraph (1), the term ‘standard charges’ 
means the rates hospitals, including providers or en-
tities that contract with or practice at a hospital, 
charge for all items and services at a minimum, 
chargemaster rates, rates that hospitals negotiate 
with third-party payers across all plans, including 
those related to a patient’s specific plan, discounted 
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cash prices, and other rates determined by the Sec-
retary. 
‘‘(3) ENFORCEMENT.—In addition to any other 
enforcement actions or penalties that may apply 
under subsection (b)(3) or another provision of law, 
a hospital that fails to provide the information re-
quired by this subsection and has not completed a 
corrective action plan to comply with the require-
ments of such subsection shall be subject to a civil 
monetary penalty of an amount not to exceed $300 
per day that the violation is ongoing as determined 
by the Secretary. Such penalty shall be imposed and 
collected in the same manner as civil money pen-
alties under subsection (a) of section 1128A of the 
Social Security Act are imposed and collected.’’. 
(b) 
TRANSPARENCY
IN
COVERAGE.—Section 
1311(e)(3) of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care 
Act (42 U.S.C. 18031(e)(3)) is amended— 
(1) in subparagraph (A)— 
(A) in clause (vii), by inserting before the 
period the following: ‘‘, including, for all items 
and services covered under the plan, aggregate 
information on specific payments the plan has 
made to out-of-network health care providers on 
behalf of plan enrollees’’; and 
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(B) by designating clause (ix) as clause 
(x); and 
(C) by inserting after clause (viii), the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘(ix) Information on the specific nego-
tiated payment rates between the plan and 
health care providers for all items and 
services covered under the plan.’’; 
(2) in subparagraph (B)— 
(A) in the heading, by striking ‘‘USE’’ and 
inserting ‘‘DELIVERY METHODS AND USE’’; 
(B) by inserting ‘‘, as applicable,’’ after 
‘‘English proficiency’’; and 
(C) by inserting after the second sentence, 
the following: ‘‘The Secretary shall establish 
standards for electronic delivery and access to 
such information by individuals, free of charge, 
in machine readable format, through an inter-
net website and via open APIs.’’; 
(3) in subparagraph (C)— 
(A) in the first sentence, by inserting ‘‘or 
out-of-network provider’’ after ‘‘item or service 
by a participating provider’’; 
(B) in the second sentence, by striking 
‘‘through an internet website’’ and inserting 
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‘‘free of charge, in machine readable format, 
through an internet website, and via open APIs, 
in accordance with standards established by the 
Secretary,’’; and 
(C) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘Such information shall include specific nego-
tiated rates that allow for comparison between 
providers and across plans, and related to a pa-
tient’s specific plan, including after an enrollee 
has exceeded their deductible responsibility.’’ 
(4) in subparagraph (D) by striking ‘‘subpara-
graph (A)’’ and inserting ‘‘subparagraphs (A), (B), 
and (C)’’. 
Æ 
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