Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt on May 3 signed into law a price transparency bill requiring healthcare providers, groups and facilities to make cash prices available to consumers for commonly provided services, Poncacitynow.com reports.
The Transparency in Health Care Prices Act, unanimously passed in the House and Senate, requires healthcare providers make available a pricing list for the cash price of common procedures, either on their website or through some "other conspicuous posting."
The list must also be updated each year.
"Consumers know what it will cost them to get groceries, to get their car serviced, to have repairs done on their homes," Rep. Carol Bush told Poncacitynow.com. "We should expect the same for healthcare. This law will give people the information they need to price compare as they consider the best treatment option."
Healthcare facilities must also make common diagnosis and outpatient Current Procedural Terminology codes public.
"The old argument that you can't post prices ahead of time is really withering away pretty quickly. I think this bill is healthy because it [is] helping to change the narrative." Keith Smith, MD, an anesthesiologist with Surgery Center of Oklahoma in Oklahoma City, told Fox25.
The Oklahoma State Medical Association supports the legislation, which compliments new federal legislation designed to better inform patients about healthcare costs upfront.