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Senate approves hospital transparency bill after amendment shifting reporting to Health Care Authority
Summary
Lawmakers approved a hospital transparency measure requiring hospitals to publish price and compensation information and report to the West Virginia Health Care Authority; an amendment removed an auditing requirement and shifted reporting from the Insurance Commissioner to the Health Care Authority.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The West Virginia Senate approved legislation on March 29 that requires hospitals to publish additional price and financial information and to report specified data to the West Virginia Health Care Authority.
Senators adopted a strike‑and‑insert amendment on third reading that moved reporting responsibilities from the Insurance Commissioner to the Health Care Authority, removed a mandate for audited financial statements and instead required that components of required financial information be published on hospital websites and in the Health Care Authority's online archive.
The bill directs the Health Care Authority to collect cost and pricing information including facility fees, amounts paid to vendors and executive compensation and authorizes rulemaking for how those data will be reported and made available. Sponsors said the change reflects that the Health Care Authority already maintains an online archive and can publish the information without creating a new portal.
Supporters, including the Senator from Ohio, said transparency is essential to understand rising health care costs and the impact on state employees and retirees, noting recent premium increases for PEIA and others. "We cannot lower health care costs for our constituents unless we know what the hospitals are charging," the Senator from Ohio said.
Opponents warned that raw data volume and frequent contract updates make the information difficult for lay users to parse; the Senior Senator from seventeenth said much of the required data already exists and that patients are typically better served by contacting insurers directly. Debate included concerns about fiscal cost and redundancy with federal reporting requirements under CMS.
The Senate approved the bill on a recorded vote, the clerk announcing 22 yeas and 12 nays; the presiding officer declared the bill passed. The bill includes fines for facilities that fail to submit required reports, according to sponsors.
