August 19 2019 – Agency for Health Care Administration (Agency) Secretary Mary Mayhew recognized Governor Ron DeSantis and President Donald Trump for their commitment to putting patients first. Both have taken critical steps to transform the health care system and provide pricing and quality enhancements to better empower and support Floridians in need of medical services.
As a result of President Trump’s recent Executive Order on Improving Price and Quality Transparency in American Healthcare to Put Patients First, the U.S. Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services issued proposed rules that will require hospitals to post standard charges online. This will allow patients to compare their out-of-pocket health care costs between hospitals for services they are seeking.
Secretary Mary Mayhew said, “Finding meaningful hospital price information is too often frustrating and difficult. While comparison shopping has become the norm in other industries, it should be no different when consumers are searching for quality and pricing between health care facilities.
“President Trump’s proposed rules will transform the health care system by requiring pricing information to be made public, and empowering patients to find value and affordability as they shop for their health care needs. Governor DeSantis’ commitment to transparency has been in lockstep with the President and this administration is committed to full transparency in the Florida health care system. These efforts will help drive down the cost of health care, increase competition and further support consumers as they shop for the most cost-effective high quality health care services.”
Since being elected, Governor DeSantis has spearheaded efforts to lower health care costs for residents and families in Florida, and the President’s initiatives are driven by the same recognition, that the issues Americans often face with health care require bold and innovative solutions.
In February, Governor DeSantis directed the Agency to improve transparency in Florida’s health care system. In response, the Agency has worked to expedite the merger of quality and pricing information available on Agency transparency tools, expedite updates to Florida Health Price Finder and further promote availability of transparency tools to consumers. See here for the Governor’s full letter.
In June, Governor DeSantis also signed the Patient Savings Act into law enabling health insurers to offer incentives to Floridians who shop for high quality, lower cost health care services.
See link below for more information:
CMS Takes Bold Action to Implement Key Elements of President Trump’s Executive Order to Empower Patients with Price Transparency and Increase Competition to Lower Costs for Medicare Beneficiaries: https://www.cms.gov/newsroom/press-releases/cms-takes-bold-action-implement-key-elements-president-trumps-executive-order-empower-patients-price
