[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 468 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 468

   To amend the Public Health Service Act to enhance compliance with 
   hospital price transparency requirements, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           February 16, 2023

  Mr. Kennedy introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
  referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To amend the Public Health Service Act to enhance compliance with 
   hospital price transparency requirements, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Hospital Transparency Compliance 
Enforcement Act''.

SEC. 2. HOSPITAL PRICE TRANSPARENCY REQUIREMENTS.

    Section 2718(e) of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 300gg-
18(e)) is amended--
            (1) by striking ``Each hospital'' and inserting the 
        following:
            ``(1) In general.--Each hospital'';
            (2) by inserting ``, in accordance with paragraph (2)'', 
        after ``for each year''; and
            (3) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(2) Timing requirements.--
                    ``(A) In general.--Each hospital operating in the 
                United States on the date of enactment of the Hospital 
                Transparency Compliance Enforcement Act shall, not 
                later than 6 months after such date of enactment and 
                every year thereafter, establish (and update) and make 
                public the list under paragraph (1).
                    ``(B) Newly operating hospitals.--In the case of a 
                hospital that begins operating in the United States 
                after the date of enactment of the Hospital 
                Transparency Compliance Enforcement Act, the hospital 
                shall comply with the requirements described in 
                subparagraph (A) not later than 6 months after the date 
                on which the hospital begins such operation and every 
                year thereafter.
            ``(3) Prohibition on shielding information.--No hospital 
        may shield the information required under paragraph (1) from 
        online search results through webpage coding.
            ``(4) Civil monetary penalties.--
                    ``(A) In general.--A hospital that fails to comply 
                with the requirements of this subsection for a year 
                shall be subject to a civil monetary penalty of an 
                amount not to exceed--
                            ``(i) in the case of a hospital with a bed 
                        count of 30 or fewer, $600 for each day in 
                        which the hospital fails to comply with such 
                        requirements;
                            ``(ii) in the case of a hospital with a bed 
                        count that is greater than 30 and equal to or 
                        fewer than 550, $20 per bed for each day in 
                        which the hospital fails to comply with such 
                        requirements; or
                            ``(iii) in the case of a hospital with a 
                        bed count that is greater than 550, $11,000 for 
                        each day in which the hospital fails to comply 
                        with such requirements.
                    ``(B) Procedures.--
                            ``(i) In general.--Except as otherwise 
                        provided in this subsection, a civil monetary 
                        penalty under subparagraph (A) shall be imposed 
                        and collected in accordance with part 180 of 
                        title 45, Code of Federal Regulations (or 
                        successor regulations).
                            ``(ii) Timing.--A hospital shall pay in 
                        full a civil monetary penalty imposed on the 
                        hospital under subparagraph (A) not later 
                        than--
                                    ``(I) 60 calendar days after the 
                                date on which the Secretary issues a 
                                notice of the imposition of such 
                                penalty; or
                                    ``(II) in the event the hospital 
                                requests a hearing pursuant to subpart 
                                D of part 180 of title 45, Code of 
                                Federal Regulations (or successor 
                                regulations), 60 calendar days after 
                                the date of a final and binding 
                                decision in accordance with such 
                                subpart, to uphold, in whole or in 
                                part, the civil monetary penalty.
            ``(5) List of hospitals not in compliance.--The Secretary 
        shall publish a list of the name of each hospital that is not 
        in compliance with the requirements under this subsection. Such 
        list shall be published 280 days after the date of enactment of 
        the Hospital Transparency Compliance Enforcement Act and every 
        180 days thereafter.''.
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