FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WOWO) — Hospital price transparency is showing major gains in Indiana, according to a new report from PatientRightsAdvocate.org, with the organization reporting that 70% of Indiana hospitals it reviewed are now fully complying with federal requirements to make pricing information available online.

That’s a significant increase from 11% in 2024, highlighting a broader national push to make healthcare costs easier for patients to see before they receive care.

The latest report from PatientRightsAdvocate.org reviewed 2,000 hospitals nationwide and found that 49.4% were fully compliant with federal hospital price transparency requirements as of 2026. That’s more than double the 21.1% compliance rate recorded in the organization’s previous report.

The federal hospital price transparency rule took effect in January 2021. It requires hospitals to make standard pricing information publicly available online, including a comprehensive machine-readable file and consumer-friendly information for services that patients can shop for in advance.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services says the goal is to give consumers information that can help them compare hospital prices and estimate what care could cost before receiving treatment.

PatientRightsAdvocate.org says the recent improvement is being driven in large part by increased federal enforcement.

Federal regulators have issued hundreds of warning letters to hospitals over transparency violations, along with dozens of financial penalties, according to the advocacy organization.

That enforcement represents a significant shift from earlier years, when the group criticized federal regulators for what it characterized as insufficient pressure on hospitals that failed to comply.

The Indiana numbers stand out in the latest report. A 70% full-compliance rate means the state is performing substantially better than the national figure of 49.4%.

But PatientRightsAdvocate.org says compliance alone does not necessarily mean patients can easily determine what they will actually pay.

The organization’s latest review found that many hospitals continue to post pricing information using percentages, formulas or algorithms rather than straightforward dollar-and-cents prices.

That can leave patients with data that technically satisfies a disclosure requirement but still requires additional information or calculations before the actual cost can be determined.

PatientRightsAdvocate.org says only 18% of the hospitals it reviewed nationwide posted dollar-and-cents prices for at least half of the items and services included in their pricing files.

That distinction is at the center of the ongoing debate over healthcare price transparency.

For patients, the difference can be substantial. Knowing that a hospital has posted a negotiated rate or formula does not necessarily tell a patient what a particular procedure will cost out of pocket.

The advocacy organization argues that true transparency should allow patients, employers and other consumers to see understandable prices and compare the cost of care before making healthcare decisions.

Indiana has also taken steps to expand healthcare pricing information at the state level. State law requires hospitals and ambulatory outpatient surgical centers to post pricing information for specified shoppable and commonly provided services, including standard charges associated with commercial insurance, Medicare, self-pay and Medicaid.

Meanwhile, Congress is considering whether to make federal hospital price transparency requirements permanent through legislation.

The bipartisan Patients Deserve Price Tags Act, Senate Bill 2355, has advanced through the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. The committee approved the legislation by a 21-to-1 vote in July.

The bill would codify federal price transparency requirements into law and expand disclosure requirements for hospitals and health plans. It also would require more frequent updates to hospital pricing files, expand requirements involving shoppable services and increase penalties for hospitals that fail to comply.

The American Hospital Association says Congress is advancing several healthcare price transparency bills and has expressed support for transparency while raising questions about how the requirements and penalties would be structured.

The debate comes as healthcare costs remain a major concern for consumers nationwide.

Supporters of stronger transparency rules say patients should be able to compare prices before receiving care, much like they would when shopping for other major purchases.

Critics and healthcare organizations have raised concerns about the complexity of healthcare pricing and whether increasingly detailed disclosure requirements will produce information that is actually useful to patients.

For Indiana patients, however, the latest report suggests access to hospital pricing information is improving.

The major increase in compliance does not mean every hospital is providing simple, upfront prices, but it represents a substantial change from just two years ago.

PatientRightsAdvocate.org says the next step is ensuring that hospitals provide prices patients can actually understand and use — not simply data that technically meets a federal disclosure requirement.

As federal enforcement continues and Congress considers permanently establishing the rules, the push for greater healthcare price transparency is moving from whether hospitals must disclose their prices to a more practical question: whether patients can actually use those prices to determine what their care will cost.