(The Center Square) – A bill that would require Wisconsin health care providers to transparently post a list of the prices for their 300 most common procedures will next head to the full Senate after it passed committee on a 3-1 vote.
Hospital groups and the Wisconsin Hospital Association opposed the bill, saying it’s a repeat of federal policy already in place, but bill sponsors say the topic is popular with the public and adds teeth to requirements that hospitals and providers comply and are transparent about the cost of services.
Sen. Julian Bradley, R-New Berlin, told The Center Square on Monday that the bill sponsors are highly supportive of doctors, nurses and providers but the measure is requiring administrators to show patients how much a procedure would cost before receiving the service instead of receiving a surprise bill total later.
Bradley said that he sat down at a computer with those who oppose the bill and showed them how providers in the state do not currently show the prices on their websites.
“There’s no other industry in the world where you find out the price of something after you’ve purchased it and it’s been delivered,” Bradley said. “This is about transparency.”
Bradley added that the bill directly follows the federal guidelines in President Donald Trump’s executive order, so it isn’t duplicative, but it will put those requirements in place permanently in Wisconsin.
He said that sponsors amended the bill to delay fines for hospitals that are actively working to comply with the requirements after meeting with them.
“We’ve tried to overcome every possible objection that the hospitals can come up with and, keep in mind, the only people in opposition of this are the hospitals and the hospital association,” Bradley said.
Hospitals, meanwhile, say that they are being transparent with patients on pricing.
“Hospitals across Wisconsin have provided patients with price transparency tools that far exceed their obligations under federal regulation,” the WHA said in testimony against the bill. “Due to advancements in technology and integration with electronic health records systems, hospitals and health systems have increasingly utilized “push” estimates to patients. A ‘push’ estimate is proactively sent to patients in advance of their service without the patient requesting it.”
Bradley said the largest difference between Senate Bill 383 and the federal requirements is that the Wisconsin bill requires a button to be prominently displayed on a provider’s website for price transparency.
