CMS has sent about 342 warning notices to hospitals that have been found noncompliant with price transparency regulations since the rule went into effect Jan. 1, 2021, CMS told Becker's on Feb. 18.
CMS has the authority to request a corrective action plan if it finds that a hospital is not compliant with one or more of the requirements of the price transparency rule. The agency can also issue a civil monetary penalty if the hospital does not respond to its request.
CMS has sent 124 requests for a corrective action plan to hospitals that have received warning notices and not made any corrections.
Seventy-seven hospitals have had their cases closed after they've addressed citations, according to CMS.
CMS told Becker's that no monetary penalties have been issued to date. The maximum penalty for noncompliance is $2 million.
"To date, each hospital that has come under compliance review has resolved its deficiencies, or is in the process of doing so," CMS said. "Therefore, it has not been necessary for CMS to issue any penalties."
Under the final price transparency rule, CMS will publicly name the hospitals that have received monetary penalties on its website. Those that have only received notices will not be named, CMS said.
"Releasing this information prematurely could identify hospitals that have already taken corrective actions and come into compliance after issuance of a warning notice, given the relationship in timing of our reviews and the hospitals being at various stages addressing compliance requests," CMS said.
As of December 2021, 335 hospitals had received notices and 98 were asked to submit correction plans, according to the Wall Street Journal.
A survey of 1,000 hospitals found that only 14.3 percent are compliant with the price transparency rule, according to a February Patient Rights Advocate report.