JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Some of Jacksonville’s biggest hospitals are not complying with federal price transparency requirements - That’s according to a new report issued Thursday by PatientRightsAdvocate.org.
Under rules adopted by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services back in 2021, hospitals are required to list the prices for all of their items and services on their website in a consumer-friendly format.
PRA Director of Research Illaria Wheeler argued the intent of these transparency rules is to benefit consumers, as far too often patients are hit with unexpectedly high bills after receiving treatment.
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“Over 90 percent of people are delaying the care that they need because they don’t know the prices up front. Right? You shouldn’t have to walk into a hospital for the care that you need only to be hit with a medical bill and sent into medical debt subsequently weeks or months later after receiving care,” said Wheeler.
But according to PRA’s new report, only 62 percent of Florida Hospitals are in full compliance with the rule.
At least six hospital campuses in Jacksonville were found to be out of compliance with the transparency requirements, including Mayo Clinic, UF Health and Baptist.
We reached out to Mayo, Baptist, and UF Health for responses as to why they made the list.
UF Health pointed us towards this page on its website, which links to a downloadable spreadsheet full of 100,000 procedures and products with several possible prices for each.
But Wheeler argued complicated pricing spreadsheets like the one provided by UF Health are only part of what is required.
“We’ve made significant improvement, but we can go further. We need actual dollar and cents prices to make this data usable for consumers,” said Wheeler.
There was a silver lining in the report, however, as only 29 percent of Florida hospitals were found to be incompliance in PRA’s last report issued in 2024.
Wheeler noted she believes the federal government is beginning to take compliance more seriously, as 500 hospitals across the country received compliance warning letters from CMS in June.
“That is the largest enforcement action to date taken by any administration. So, I think that signifies price transparency is here. Price transparency is here to stay, and they’re giving these hospitals time to come into compliance,” said Wheeler.
While the PRA report listed Mayo, Baptist and UF as non-compliant, only Baptist was identified as having received a compliance warning letter.
A Baptist spokesperson issued a statement late Friday afternoon explaining the hospital had addressed the concerns in that CMS warning letter.
“We received a notice from Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) in April about minor technical issues with our website’s machine-readable files, which list our standard charges for certain items and services. We promptly made the necessary changes and the file was closed,” said a Baptist spokesperson in an emailed statement. “We believe patients have a right to clear information about the cost of their care, and we are committed to meeting state and federal transparency standards.
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