Aug 15, 2022 - Health

Few cancer centers have price transparency

Tina Reed

Illustration of a caduceus with a price tag — Illustration: Natalie Peeples/Axios

Less than a third of the 63 National Cancer Institute-designated cancer centers in the U.S. are fully complying with federal price transparency rules, according to an analysis in JAMA Surgery.

Why it matters: Cancer treatment can be particularly costly, leading some patients to face crippling debt and even bankruptcy in their bid to find a cure.

The details: A federal rule that took effect Jan. 1, 2021 required hospitals to disclose five types of standard charges for all services in an accessible file, and have a consumer-friendly display for at least 300 shoppable services.

By August 2021, 42 of the 63 cancer hospitals (about two-thirds) provided some information on negotiated rates, the analysis found.
Only 20 of the 63 hospitals were fully compliant.

What they're saying: "What is less easy to convey in a quantitative fashion is how cumbersome most websites or files were to navigate," the authors from the University of California, Los Angeles' medical school wrote.

Be smart: This analysis was conducted not long after the law went into effect. The authors acknowledge compliance will likely improve over time.

But it's consistent with previous findings that U.S. hospitals have been slow to comply and need increased scrutiny, they say.

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Few cancer centers have price transparency

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