Effective April 1, 2026, all US hospitals must disclose actual pricing data for common procedures. These federal rules require "true, accurate, and complete" dollar amounts rather than vague estimates.
Research confirms that many institutions continue to deploy technical barriers. Hospitals have been found using WAF blockers and robots.txt directives to prevent public access to their machine-readable files. This data opacity protects profit margins and keeps patients in the dark.
Data audits show that cash prices are often 40 percent lower than insurer negotiated rates. Shifting to cash rates for shoppable services could potentially save plan sponsors billions of dollars across the country.
The CMS mandate finally provides the tools for accountability. Healthspend offers the real-time infrastructure needed to audit 7,400+ hospitals and expose these pricing gaps. You can now discover the true cost of care without server bottlenecks or egress fees.