Hospital Transparency Compliance Enforcement Act

This bill, titled the Hospital Transparency Compliance Enforcement Act, aims to significantly enhance compliance with existing hospital price transparency requirements under the Public Health Service Act. It mandates that all hospitals operating in the United States must establish, update, and publicly disclose their comprehensive price lists annually. This disclosure must occur within six months of the bill's enactment or within six months of a new hospital beginning operations. A crucial provision of the bill explicitly prohibits hospitals from shielding required price information from online search results through webpage coding. To ensure adherence, the legislation introduces a tiered system of civil monetary penalties for non-compliant hospitals. These daily penalties vary based on hospital bed count, ranging from $600 for smaller facilities to $11,000 for the largest hospitals, or $20 per bed for mid-sized hospitals. Furthermore, the Secretary is directed to regularly publish a public list identifying all hospitals that fail to comply with these transparency mandates.