Enhanced penalties from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on hospitals out of compliance with transparency orders went into effect in June 2022. Many people across the country consider making the prices negotiated between hospitals and insurers an important milestone in our health care system's reluctant journey to a more patient-centric orientation, but suffice it to say, we are not there yet.

Price transparency really can't come soon enough. In every other realm of commerce in which consumers can choose the provider from whom they will buy goods and services, transparency in pricing leads to a more efficient market – better products and lower costs for buyers. There is no reason for health care delivery to remain an exception; and yet the system remains a tangled mess, and reformers are rightfully forcing the hands of hospital systems where opaque practices serve to inhibit innovation and competition.