PatientRightsAdvocate.org Launches Colorado Hospital Price Finder Tool

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Oct 22, 2024, 15:30 ET

Colorado patients empowered to compare prices, save on care, fight surprise bills

DENVER, Oct. 22, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, PatientRightsAdvocate.org (PRA) announced the Colorado Hospital Price Finder Tool, empowering Coloradans with free access to all available Colorado hospital prices so they can compare options, prevent overcharges, and have recourse for surprise bills. Patients, employers, unions, and researchers in the Centennial State are now able to search all posted prices by hospital, procedure, and code at ColoradoHospitalPrices.com.

"The Colorado Hospital Price Finder Tool is a huge step for Colorado healthcare consumers, who have long suffered from hidden healthcare prices, kept secret by hospitals and insurers alike," said PRA Founder and Chairman Cynthia Fisher. "This tool will enable patients to easily compare actual prices, including cash rates, and choose the best care at a price they can afford. Now, patients will have recourse when their bill doesn't match the price, protecting them from overcharges."

In June of 2023, Colorado Governor Jared Polis signed into law a bipartisan bill (S.B. 252) that codified price transparency requirements for all Colorado hospitals and prohibited hospitals and their debt collectors from pursuing debt collection if the hospital was not in compliance with those requirements. Today, the governor hosted a press conference with PRA to introduce the Colorado Hospital Price Finder Tool at the State Capitol.

"Saving Coloradans money on healthcare is a top priority and I am excited to help launch this new and free Colorado Hospital Price Finder to make healthcare pricing more competitive and save people money on healthcare," said Governor Polis. "I am excited to see more of these tools online because the more transparency, the better for all of us. We will continue to ensure Colorado's competitive healthcare market provides high-quality care to everyone at lower costs and provide more clarity on the true cost of health care."

At the federal level, the Health Care PRICE Transparency Act 2.0 (S. 3548), of which Colorado Senator John Hickenlooper is an original co-sponsor, would put healthcare price transparency into federal law, strengthen disclosure requirements, and hold hospitals and insurance companies accountable with robust enforcement provisions.

"It's unhelpful to only find out how much your medical care costs after you've been treated," said Sen. Hickenlooper. "This tool will compare the cost of care between providers to increase competition and make it easier for Coloradans to know exactly how much their care will cost before they choose it."

PRA's sixth Semi-annual Hospital Price Transparency report revealed that only 50% of Colorado hospitals reviewed were fully complying with the federal hospital price transparency rule that took effect nearly four years ago.

Several Colorado patients for whom the Colorado Hospital Price Finder Tool would have made an enormous difference are speaking out in favor of this service.

Denver's Heather Falvo put it this way: "I called the hospital and spoke to multiple people there including billing staff and advocates. I called my insurance company and my cardiologist. No one could explain why the price [of my hospital bill] was twenty times higher than what Medicare pays... This is why I am glad to know about this new price finder tool that lets patients shop and compare prices across hospitals, choose the best value provider, and compare their bills to posted prices. This is a critical next step towards empowering consumers and lowering healthcare costs." Watch her testimonial.

Paige and Adam Nielson, parents to newborn George, also spoke out. "When Paige and I decided we wanted a family, we had no idea what it would cost and there's really no way to find out... We had a healthy pregnancy, an uncomplicated delivery, and a healthy full-term baby," said Adam. "We were ready for sleepless nights, what we weren't ready for were the crazy bills that kept coming in... We get some bills that don't even say what they are for. We have 70 pages of bills for a normal delivery," Paige added, "The hospital price finding tool is a good next step. It will help patients know prices up front so they can prepare financially." Watch their testimonial.

Cyndy Reddy of Broomfield would have benefitted greatly from the price finder tool and easy access to prices, as she continues to suffer the long-term consequences of the lack of price transparency. After learning that she needed a hysterectomy, Cyndy went through with the surgery, but no one told her the price. After the procedure, she was sent a $64,000 bill. Watch Cyndy's story.

About PatientRightsAdvocate.org

PatientRightsAdvocate.org (PRA) is a leading national healthcare price transparency organization dedicated to ushering in systemwide transparency through advocacy, testimony, media, legal research, and grassroots campaigns. PRA believes that the availability and visibility of actual, upfront healthcare prices will greatly lower costs for patients and employers through a functional, competitive healthcare marketplace.

SOURCE Patient Rights Advocate