Congress·In Committee·S. 729

Congress targets tougher hospital price transparency deadlines, daily fines, and a public noncompliance list

Hospital Transparency Compliance Enforcement Act

about 1 year ago·View on Congress.gov

⏸

Stalled

No legislative action in over 90 days.

Legislative Progress

Senate

House

President

Law

Key Points

Hospitals would have to post and update their price lists on a clear schedule: within 6 months of the law taking effect, then every year after.
New hospitals would get 6 months from the day they open to post their price list, and then must update it every year.
Hospitals could not hide required price info from Google and other search results using webpage coding.
Hospitals that don’t comply could face daily fines, with the maximum depending on hospital size (small hospitals up to $600/day; very large hospitals up to $11,000/day).
The federal health secretary would have to publicly list hospitals that aren’t following the rules, starting 280 days after the law takes effect and then every 180 days.

HealthcareConsumer Protection

Impact Analysis

Personal Impact

How this policy affects specific groups of people

Mixed Impacts(1)

Housing Assistance

Neutral

Positive Impacts(2)

Chronic Illness

Helps

Child Tax Credit

Helps

Milestones

2 milestones2 actions

Feb 25, 2025Senate

Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.

Feb 25, 2025

Introduced in Senate

What Happens Next

Projected impacts based on AI analysis

6 months after enactment

Hospitals must publish and update their required price list within 6 months of the law taking effect

Patients should be able to find hospitals’ posted standard prices more reliably and more consistently across hospitals; hospitals that are not ready risk penalties later.

Within 6 months after a hospital begins operating

New hospitals must comply within 6 months of opening (and then every year)

Newly opened hospitals cannot delay price posting for long; shoppers and insurers get pricing visibility earlier in the hospital’s life.

As soon as the law takes effect (enforced going forward)

Hospitals are barred from using webpage coding to keep required price information out of search results

If you search online for a hospital’s price list, it should be harder for the hospital to make that page “invisible,” which can reduce dead ends and hidden links.

280 days after enactment

The federal government publishes the first public list of hospitals that are not complying

Patients, employers, and journalists can quickly see which hospitals are not following the rules; hospitals may feel pressure to fix issues faster.

Every 180 days after the first list

Updated noncompliance lists are published regularly

Ongoing public accountability: hospitals that fall out of compliance can be flagged again, and hospitals that fix problems can come off the list.