Association for Direct Care Welcomes Stronger Health Care Price Transparency Rule

WASHINGTON D.C. – The Association for Direct Care (ADC) today welcomed action by the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Treasury to strengthen the Transparency in Coverage requirements and make health care pricing information more accurate, accessible, and useful.

“Price transparency is foundational to building a market where direct contracting and value-based payment arrangements can grow and thrive,” said Taylor Hittle, Executive Director of the Association for Direct Care. “Greater transparency can help patients and purchasers make more informed decisions while giving clinicians the opportunity to demonstrate the quality, accessibility, and value of the care they deliver.”

Direct contracting allows employers and other health care purchasers to work directly with physicians, hospitals, health systems, and other providers to establish clear terms around price, quality, access, data, and accountability. These arrangements can include direct primary care, Centers of Excellence, bundled payments, and customized provider networks.

But direct contracting depends on access to reliable information about health care prices. The original Transparency in Coverage rule required health plans and insurers to disclose negotiated rates through machine-readable files, but the accuracy, size, complexity, and quality of those files have limited their usefulness. The updated requirements are intended to make that information more accurate, easier to access, compare, and use to inform health care purchasing decisions.

About the Association for Direct Care

The Association for Direct Care is a national coalition of employers, health care clinicians, health innovators and other organizations working to advance direct contracting as a more affordable, transparent, and patient-centered approach to health care. To learn more, visit EmployerDirectCare.org.