AHA, others file briefs in case to prevent disclosure of negotiated contracts

The AHA, joined by three other national organizations representing hospitals and health systems, late Friday filed a reply brief in their lawsuit challenging a 2019 Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services final rule mandating that hospitals disclose their privately negotiated rates with commercial health insurers.

The final rule “exceeds the unambiguous limits set by Congress” because it “requires disclosure of not only a hospital’s ‘standard charges’ but also commercially sensitive negotiated prices,” the brief states, noting that “transparency about hospitals’ negotiated rates is not the same as transparency about out-of-pocket charges.” Even the study cited by the government undercuts its position on negotiated rates, the brief adds, as it reported that “71% of survey respondents wanted ‘more transparency about the true costs’ of services not the negotiated rates between hospitals and insurers.” (emphasis added)

Also on Friday, 37 state hospital associations filed a similar friend-of-the-court brief, supporting more useful transparency for patients while describing the “severe burdens on hospital and health systems across the United States without a corresponding benefit to consumers.”