The proposal would direct federal agencies to demand price disclosures from health insurers and hospitals.

While the renewed focus on the potential for cost transparency to transform the patient experience is exciting, we hope it will stay grounded in just how difficult it is to execute on this vision.

The HHS proposal would be a big win for consumers, but it could take two years or more to create a user-friendly app.

The U.S. spends 8.3 percent of total health expenditures on administrative costs annually, totaling $496 billion.