Florida attorney general subpoenas hospitals for price transparency, billing practices

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier says he’s looking into the billing and pricing practices of hospitals in the Sunshine State.

In a video he posted Friday on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, Uthmeier says he has issued subpoenas to Florida hospitals. He said he’s looking for more information about hospitals and their price transparency practices.

“We must protect patients,” Uthmeier said in the video. “Just like any market, services have a price and patients deserve transparency to make fully informed decisions. Under Florida law, hospitals' failure to provide such disclosures may constitute an unfair and deceptive trade practice.

“That's why I've issued legal subpoenas to multiple Florida hospitals as part of an investigation related to patient charges, disclosures, billing practices, price transparency and surprise billing protections,” he said. “We do not take the issuance of subpoenas lightly, and we expect these hospitals to be cooperative.”

• Read more: Hospitals face more pressure for transparency in prices, and lower prices

Uthmeier began by saying he was following the example of President Trump, who has pushed for greater price transparency from hospitals and healthcare organizations.

“The big healthcare industrial complex continues to rake in billions off Americans in their most vulnerable moments,” Uthmeier said.

Trump issued an executive order in February calling for hospitals and insurance companies to make it easier for consumers to see and compare prices.

Carol Skenes, chief of staff of Turquoise Health, tells Chief Healthcare Executive® that Florida lawmakers have been focused on price transparency in recent years.

“Florida has had several instances of bills previously where they were looking to really bolster the price transparency efforts in line with the federal efforts. And I think all of it really does tie to what we as a nation are looking for in all of this, is just understanding what our cost of care is,” Skenes says.

About half of the states have some legislation regarding price transparency for hospitals, and they are typically in line with federal requirements.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services issued new guidance last week pushing hospitals to take additional steps on price transparency. The CMS is directing hospitals to push the actual prices of services and procedures, rather than estimates.

As part of that step, the Trump administration has also issued a “request for information” seeking public input to improve price transparency and identify obstacles to get better information on billing.

Trump first imposed new regulations on price transparency in his first term. President Biden’s administration cited a handful of hospitals for falling short of federal regulations regarding price transparency.

Hospitals and healthcare organizations have been required to publish 300 shoppable services and procedures in a display that can be easily read by consumers or with a price estimator tool.

Since 2022, less than 30 hospitals have been fined by CMS for falling short of price transparency regulations, according to the agency’s data. More than 6,000 hospitals are operating nationwide.

Hal Andrews, president & CEO of Trilliant Health, told Chief Healthcare Executive® in a recent interview that most hospitals have complied with federal regulations. But he says consumers continue to face wide variance in hospital prices, by tens of thousands of dollars, even among providers in the same market.

Employers are more likely to drive improvements in transparency in pricing.

“I think the real value of price transparency is going to be employers focused on benefit design,” Andrews says. “And I think that's coming.”

Critics have said hospitals need to do better on price transparency. Cynthia A. Fisher, founder and chairwoman of PatientRightsAdvocate.org, welcomed the Florida attorney general’s subpoena of hospitals.

“This investigation will protect Floridians from hospitals’ predatory practices, prevent overcharges, and make bills accountable,” Fisher said in a statement. “Ultimately, these consumer protections will help consumers to lower their costs.”