The Trump administration on Monday finalized new amendments to its hospital price transparency regulations, a move designed to make pricing data more user-friendly and accessible for patients. The rule, issued jointly by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Employee Benefits Security Administration (ERISA), and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), builds on the original price transparency mandate from Trump's first term.
Under the updated rules, hospitals and insurers must standardize their pricing files so that patients can easily compare costs across facilities and plans. Insurers will also be required to attest that the information they provide is accurate and complete to the best of their knowledge. Additionally, any pricing information that is available online or in print must also be provided over the phone.
The changes were first proposed in December 2025 and are part of the broader Transparency in Coverage initiative. The administration also announced that it will develop a standardized schema for prescription drug pricing, which health plans would use to disclose negotiated drug costs. The final rule for that requirement is expected by May 2026.
Officials acknowledged that the original rule, which took effect in January 2021, has faced compliance challenges. A September report from Patient Rights Advocate found that only 49.4 percent of surveyed hospitals were fully compliant. Peter Nelson, deputy administrator and director of the Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight, explained at a press conference that the initial rule produced massive data files that were difficult to process.
“Simply put, you basically need a supercomputer to process the data, which has limited who can work with the data,” Nelson said. “The improvements in this final rule largely involve addressing issues with the structure of the data files.”
HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said the new rules would reduce the size of pricing files by 70 percent, making them more manageable for patients, employers, and researchers. He emphasized that better data would empower patients to compare costs before receiving care, help employers assess whether their insurers are negotiating favorable rates, and allow researchers to identify price disparities and market failures.
“The American people pay for this care system, and they have the right to know the prices. The prices do not belong to the hospitals. They don’t belong to the insurance companies. They belong to the American people and the consumers,” Kennedy said.
The announcement comes as the administration continues to push for Medicare rebates for seniors and other healthcare affordability measures. Critics have questioned the administration's motives on some healthcare policies, but the price transparency rule has drawn bipartisan support as a way to reduce costs by increasing market competition.
Industry groups have expressed cautious optimism, though some have noted that compliance will require significant IT upgrades. The new rules are set to take effect in phases, with the first deadlines for standardized files expected later this year.
