N.C. price transparency bill signed into law

A bill requiring hospitals to provide public pricing information on 140 common medical procedures and services was signed into law in North Carolina. The new law also prohibits hospitals from putting liens on a patient’s home to collect unpaid medical bills and bars state-owned hospitals at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and East Carolina University from garnishing a patient’s wages to settle an unpaid debt.

As a result of the law, hospitals and ambulatory surgical centers must disclose to the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services the pricing on 100 inpatient services, 20 surgical procedures and 20 imaging procedures; the pricing will appear on the health agency’s website.

“For too long, North Carolina patients have been in the dark on what they can expect to pay for common medical procedures when they are admitted to a hospital,” Gov. Pat McCrory said in a statement. “This new law gives patients and their doctors pricing information so they can make an informed financial decision with regard to their healthcare.” 

The law in part stemmed from a federal report earlier this year that discovered great variability in the costs of common hospital procedures at providers across the United States.