Bill requiring greater imaging price transparency advances in Senate

A bipartisan bill requiring greater price transparency for medical imaging and other healthcare services has advanced in the U.S. Senate. 

First introduced a year ago, the Patients Deserve Price Tags Act would require hospitals to post the cost for 300 “shoppable” services across radiology and other specialties. The Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee on Wednesday voted 21-1 to advance the measure to the full Senate. 

Sen. Doc Marshall, MD, R-Kan.—who co-sponsored the bill alongside John Hickenlooper, D-Colo., and Bill Cassidy, MD, R-La.—estimated the proposal would save the average family about $1,000 a year.

“Patients deserve price tags instead of surprise bills,” Marshall said in prepared remarks made July 22. “Our bill forces transparency. It forces competition. And, like Sen. Hickenlooper said, there will be penalties if hospitals don’t comply.”

If passed, the bill also would require machine-readable files for all negotiated rates and cash prices between plans and providers, according to the original July 2025 announcement. It also would mandate that each patient receive an explanation of benefits statement. If finalized, providers or facilities additionally would need to provide an itemized bill or each item or service or an all-in total price for bundled items. 

Along with radiology providers, the provisions would apply to insurers, labs, and ambulatory surgery centers. The bill text has further details about the imaging-related stipulations. On Wednesday, the American Hospital Association expressed “serious concerns” about the legislation, believing it “does not advance price transparency efforts.” AHA also noted that the proposal considered incorporates key changes from an earlier discussion draft.

“As currently drafted, the manager’s amendment will increase the administrative burden placed on hospitals and health systems to comply with myriad new reporting requirements that will be both difficult to execute and costly to maintain,” the AHA wrote July 22. “These could be especially onerous for small and rural hospitals, some of which are already struggling to serve their communities with current staff and resources.”  

Meanwhile, PatientRightsAdvocate.org, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit focused on price transparency, celebrated the bill’s advancement to the full Senate on Wednesday. 

"The Patients Deserve Price Tags Act would replace healthcare's blank checks with actual prices, empowering patients and employers to compare options, avoid the risk of surprise bills and reap the benefits of competition found elsewhere across the economy,"  Cynthia Fisher, founder and chair of Patient Rights Advocate, said in a statement. "At a time when health insurers are planning massive premium increases, this bipartisan legislation will expose for the first time how exactly they set their prices."