Transparency in healthcare isn’t just a nice-to-have—it’s essential. Let’s push for accountability and fairness in 2025. Everyday people deserve better. #Nayya #HealthAndWealth
The total fines levied against hospitals for price transparency noncompliance since the rule's enactment amount to $4,989,594. Only 17 hospitals have been fined less than an aggregate of $5M in over three years. For context: ▶️ Large hospitals often generate billions annually. Northside Hospital Atlanta, one of the fined entities, reported revenue exceeding $4 billion in recent years. This fine of $883,180 represents a mere 0.022% of their total revenue. ▶️ Many hospitals have been caught overbilling Medicare and private insurers by hundreds of millions in audits. The total fines here are less than what a single hospital might overbill in just one department in a single day. I've seen "billing errors" for singular medical bills that are well over many of the fines levied against these hospitals. ▶️ Jackson Memorial in Miami, with revenue of approximately $2 billion annually, incurred a fine of $871,122 - which equates to less than half a day's revenue. ▶️ The cumulative fines for price transparency noncompliance, totaling just under $5 million, are laughable when compared to how hospitals allocate funds. Cedars-Sinai, for example, has invested millions in an art collection to enhance its lobbies. Memorial Hermann recently spent $70 million to sponsor the Houston Rockets' training facility. These fines are less than a drop in the bucket, dwarfed by what hospitals willingly spend on luxury projects and branding deals, highlighting how ineffective they are as a deterrent. For a system like HCA Healthcare, with annual revenues exceeding $60 billion, $5 million is laughably trivial. This amount represents less than 0.01% of their revenue—equivalent to what HCA generates in less than an hour. In terms of capital expenditures, HCA spends over $8 billion annually on facilities, renovations, and technology. The total fine pool would not even cover a single day’s worth of these routine expenses. While it is estimated that about 40% of HCA hospitals are non-compliant, even if 10% of HCA's 182 hospitals were fined the average amount seen in the current data, it would generate approximately $5.34 million in fines, still barely a rounding error for. These 17 fines are laughably small not only in dollar terms but also in scope. We know that many more hospitals are failing to meet transparency standards, even by the most generous assessments. This paltry enforcement effort underscores the systemic failure to hold hospitals accountable and sends a clear message: compliance is optional when the penalties are so inconsequential. Hospitals are making calculated business decisions, weighing the minimal risk of financial penalties against the enormous rewards of continuing to operate in an opaque market, hiding prices, and profiting from the lack of transparency. Judging from CMS enforcement thus far, it's a winning bet.