Can MRF data be used for comparative benchmarking?
The impetus for the MRF requirement — as outlined by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) in its 2019 hospital price transparency final rule — was to enable informed decision-making about healthcare services based on their pricing, thereby helping to drive down the cost of healthcare. Yet significant obstacles continue to block…
Key questions for providers after more than 2 years of the price transparency rule
Effective Jan. 1, 2021, under CMS’s final outpatient prospective payment system (OPPS) final rule for CY2020, hospitals nationwide were required to publish their negotiated rates, chargemaster prices and drug prices for all items and services in a machine-readable file (MRF) and generate a more user-friendly consumer display showing pricing information for 300 shoppable items and…