The Trump administration recently issued a request for information seeking input on how to improve drug price transparency, alongside other initiatives aimed at increasing price transparency in healthcare.
Here are five updates on price transparency:
1. HHS, the Labor Department and the Treasury Department issued their request for information seeking public input on how to increase transparency in drug prices in a May 22 news release from CMS. The request specifically seeks information regarding the prescription drug price disclosure requirements, including information on existing prescription drug file data elements and insight into implementation overall, including the ability of health plans to access necessary data for reporting and approaches to innovation.
2. The agencies also released updated guidance for payers that sets a clear applicability date for publishing an updated technical format for disclosures. The guidance states that the departments will finalize the updated schema, which provides the technical data formats for required machine-readable files, on Oct. 1. These process improvements are designed to “eliminate meaningless or duplicative data” and make cost information more readable and accessible for consumers.
3. “Transparency empowers individuals to make well-informed health care decisions for themselves and their families,” Deputy Secretary of Labor Keith Sonderling said in the release. “The departments’ actions today execute President Trump’s mission to address rising health care costs by promoting competition in the marketplace.”
4. CMS also released new guidance to bolster the Hospital Price Transparency requirements, requiring hospitals to post the actual prices of items and services, not estimates.
5. The efforts are designed to support an executive order that directs the secretaries of these agencies to build on the efforts toward increased transparency launched during President Trump’s first term.
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