In a move aimed at empowering patients and reducing healthcare costs, President Donald Trump has signed a new executive order titled “Making America Healthy Again by Empowering Patients with Clear, Accurate, and Actionable Healthcare Pricing Information.”
The order aims to mandate hospitals and insurers to disclose actual prices, standardize data formats, and strengthen enforcement.
Key points of the executive order include:
- Reinforcing existing regulations: The order reaffirms and strengthens regulations implemented during Trump’s first term, which required hospitals and health plans to provide clear pricing information to consumers. The 2019 rule mandated hospitals to disclose prices for 300 shoppable services and insurers to post negotiated rates. The 2025 order directs agencies to enforce these rules more aggressively, including actual prices (not estimates) and standardized reporting.
Under the Hospital Price Transparency Final Rule (effective January 1, 2021), hospitals were required to:
- Publish Standard Charges: Disclose gross charges, discounted cash prices, payer-specific negotiated rates, and de-identified minimum/maximum negotiated charges for all items and services in a machine-readable file.
- Display Shopper-Friendly Pricing: Provide a consumer-friendly format for at least 300 shoppable services, including 70 CMS-specified procedures (e.g., imaging, surgeries) and 230 hospital-selected services. This included bundled pricing for ancillary services (e.g., lab tests, anesthesia) typically provided with primary procedures.
- Compliance Alternatives: Hospitals could use internet-based price estimator tools to meet requirements, provided the tool covered all 300 services and allowed patients to obtain personalized cost estimates
- Addressing stalled progress: The President criticized the lack of enforcement and progress on price transparency during the Biden administration, vowing to rectify this issue. While the Biden administration increased penalties for noncompliance (e.g., fines up to $5,500/day), compliance remained low. Only 24.5% of hospitals fully complied by 2023, though 90% posted some pricing data. The Trump administration argues enforcement was insufficient.
- Economic impact: The order cites a 2023 economic analysis estimating potential healthcare savings of up to $80 billion by 2025 if transparency regulations are fully implemented.
- New directives: Within 90 days, relevant government departments are instructed to take action on:
- Requiring disclosure of actual prices, not estimates
- Standardizing pricing information for easy comparison
- Updating enforcement policies to ensure compliance
