WASHINGTON – Consumers for Quality Care (CQC) Board members released the following statement urging Congress to pass H.R. 9504, the Tax-Exempt Hospital Transparency Act, which would strengthen transparency and accountability requirements for nonprofit hospitals:

“Nonprofit hospitals receive significant tax benefits in exchange for serving patients and meeting the needs of their communities. But too often, patients are left facing high bills, confusing pricing information, aggressive debt collection, and limited access to meaningful charity care.

The Tax-Exempt Hospital Transparency Act is an important step toward ensuring nonprofit hospitals are held accountable for how they use their tax-exempt status. By requiring clearer reporting on charity care, community benefit spending, financial assistance, and hospital pricing, this legislation would give patients, policymakers, and the public more information about whether nonprofit hospitals are living up to their obligations.

CQC’s Nonprofit Hospital Scorecards have shown that too many nonprofit hospitals continue to fall short on key measures of patient protection, including charity care, billing and collection practices, price transparency, and medical debt protections. Patients deserve better. They deserve to know whether hospitals benefiting from public subsidies are putting patients and communities first.

Consumers for Quality Care believe that transparency is essential to lowering costs, protecting patients, and building a healthcare system that works for consumers. Congress should pass the Tax-Exempt Hospital Transparency Act and continue advancing reforms that hold hospitals accountable, cut down on abusive billing practices, and put patients first.”