A Fifth of US Hospitals Have Been Warned Over Secretive Prices

Some of the largest US hospital chains and most prestigious academic medical centers have violated federal rules by not posting the prices they charge for care, according to records obtained by Bloomberg News.

For-profit HCA Healthcare Inc., the nation’s largest hospital system, and big nonprofit operators including Ascension and Trinity Health have been cited for failing to make prices fully available to the public, enforcement letters Bloomberg obtained through a public records request show. So have marquee facilities such as New York Presbyterian Weill Cornell Medical Center, Emory University Hospital and the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.

A study published in JAMA Internal Medicine in September showed despite the push for transparency, prices can be exceptionally hard to pin down.

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