Upcoming webinars on CMS price transparency rule

September 24, 2020

On Thursday, Oct. 1, from 4:00-5:00 p.m., WSHA will provide a webinar regarding the CMS Price Transparency Rule, which requires hospitals to post standard charge information, including negotiated rates in a machine readable format and provide information for 300 “shoppable services” in a consumer-friendly, searchable format. The rule is effective Jan. 1, 2021. The webinar will include an overview of the rule requirements, as well as the status of hospital advocacy efforts. Speakers will include American Hospital Association Senior Associate Directo Ariel Levin. More information and registration details are available online.

Washington Hospital Services Industry Partner PARA Healthcare Analytics will also host a webinar on this topic: “Surviving Price Transparency – CMS’ 2021 Price Transparency Requirements.” This second webinar will take place on Thursday, Oct. 8, from 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. Please click here to register for the webinar.

CMS started introducing price transparency guidelines in 2015 when it required hospitals to provide a list of standard charges upon request. In 2019 hospitals were required to publish standard charges in a machine-readable format online. Now for 2021, CMS is requiring hospitals to do the following:

  • Publish in a machine-readable format a complete listing of all services and charges available at the hospital
  • Publish in a machine-readable format payer specific reimbursement information and the deidentified min/max for all services and charges, including discounted cash prices, available at the hospital
  • Publish in a machine-readable format the 70 services CMS has defined plus 230+ services at the discretion of the hospital with payer specific reimbursement information and deidentified min/max rates.

While the CMS guidelines create some uncertainty with regard to compliance, this presentation will share PARA’s best thinking about how to comply with federal requirements for creating a web-based system that allows the Patient to determine their share of cost for healthcare services. This presentation focuses on the demand for creating a web-based system that meets federal requirements for Price Transparency and allows the Patient to determine their share of cost for healthcare services.

At the end of this presentation, participants will be able to:

  • Understand the development of the guidelines
  • Interpretation of the guidelines
  • Learn how to implement the guidelines to support transparency
  • What the penalty is for not complying

PARA is offering a volume discounted rate for the PARA Price Transparency Tool through the partnership with WSHA/WHS, based on level of participation at time of engagement.  Each member will need to sign this agreement individually. Members have until 11/8/2020 to sign the agreement and then based on level of participation PARA will adjust the core set-up fee and quarterly maintenance fees according to the discounts listed in the service agreement.

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