Atlanta-based Northside Hospital has two options on how to proceed with the first fines levied by CMS for federal price transparency law violations.
The first is to pay the fines, which are due 60 days from the June 7 notices issued by CMS. Northside Hospital Atlanta, the health system's flagship facility, was fined $883,180. Northside Hospital Cherokee in Canton, Ga., was fined $214,320.
The second is to appeal the penalties. If it chooses to go this route, the health system has 30 days from June 7 to request a hearing before an administrative law judge. If the judge upholds the fine — either in full or in part — payment is due within 60 days of that decision, a CMS spokesperson told Becker's.
Northside Hospital did not respond to a request for comment about the fines and whether it is considering an appeal.
As of early June, CMS has issued about 352 warning notices to hospitals that were found out of compliance with price transparency rules, which went into effect Jan. 1, 2021. CMS has also sent 157 requests for a corrective action plan to hospitals that received a warning and had not made any corrections. There have been 171 hospitals that have had their cases closed after addressing issues.
CMS told Becker's the Northside hospitals received a notice and a corrective action plan request, but neither hospital submitted a plan, and both remained noncompliant.