On average, 55 percent of U.S. hospitals have not been following the price disclosure rules that became effective Jan. 1, according to a Dec. 9 study by Baltimore-based Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
The study, published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, analyzed data using data service company Turquoise Health from 3,558 general acute hospitals in the U.S. The study period was Jan. 1-June 1.
Hospitals in the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Rhode Island, Indiana and Michigan were found to be at least 75 percent compliant. Meanwhile, compliance at hospitals in Delaware, Maryland, Washington and Louisiana was 25 percent or lower.
The level of compliance is strongly dependent on the level of other hospitals in the same regional market, the study found. If hospitals in the same region are compliant, a hospital is 42 percent more likely to comply with the rules.
Hospitals were also found more likely to be compliant based on their health information technology preparedness.