Get Involved

There are many federal, state and local organizations that advocate for medical price transparency. A few examples are:

In 2019, CMS (the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services) finalized a rule, mandating hospital price transparency, requiring all hospitals to publicly disclose their standard charges for items and services provided to patients, effectively making hospital pricing information more accessible to consumers. This rule went into effect on January, 2021. https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2019/11/27/2019-24931/medicare-and-medicaid-programs-cy-2020-hospital-outpatient-pps-policy-changes-and-payment-rates-and

In 2021, Oklahoma signed into law HB1006 (The Transparency in Healthcare prices act), which mandates that all Oklahoma healthcare providers must provide either on their websites or prominently displayed in their office the cash pay pricing of their most commonly performed tests, procedures or exams. http://www.oklegislature.gov/BillInfo.aspx?Bill=hb1006&Session=2100

PatientRightsAdvocate.org is a nonprofit fighting for systemwide healthcare price transparency. They seek to empower patients and consumers with actual, upfront prices, greatly reducing healthcare costs through a functional, competitive market. Their latest review (Nov. 2024), conducted nearly four years after the federal CMS rule took effect, analyzed the websites of 2,000 U.S. hospitals and found only 21.1% of them (421) to be fully compliant with all requirements of the rule.

Community Outreach- If you want to make a difference in your local community, some things you can do:

-Ask all medical professionals about pricing

-Ask about cash pay discounts

-Encourage local and state officials to support legislation regarding medical price transparency