HASC will launch the Modern Pricing and Transparency Initiative (MPTI) this fall to support hospitals as they work independently to adjust their charges. MPTI will provide participating hospitals with a structured, disciplined curriculum that ensures hospitals “stick with the program” outlined in CHA’s Modern Pricing guidebook.

HASC will bring in common legal counsel and individuals with expertise who can provide real-world experience to help hospitals identify appropriate strategies and necessary action steps to navigate legal, regulatory and operational hurdles ¹.

The goals of MPTI include:

• Make hospital charges more meaningful, explainable and understandable to the general public.
• Minimize the potential negative impact on hospitals implementing Modern Pricing.
• Ensure charges reflect the unique cost structure of each hospital’s mission and patient population.

Specific objectives for MPTI include:

• Help hospitals establish interdisciplinary teams and keep them engaged throughout the process.
• Identify and implement the “quick start” strategies, such as:
  • Eliminate charges for low-cost items (e.g., no charges listed for items lower than a certain threshold).
  • Eliminate charges for items that can be easily purchased at a local drug store (e.g., shampoo, soap, etc.).
  • Eliminate obsolete or low volume/cost items.
  • Ensure codes (e.g., procedure, revenue, HCPCS, APC, etc.) are accurate and complete.
  • Ensure compliance with CMS regulations.
• Help hospitals establish a charge audit process that tracks, trends and analyzes outcomes to charge adjustments that have been implemented.
• Ensure antitrust protections are in place to allow appropriate sharing of best practices, peer-to-peer learning and education via in-person meetings, webinars, conference calls, and monitored Listservs.
• Keep CHA informed of any new statutory or regulatory barriers that are identified.
• Establish standardized government agency submission formats for waivers or exceptions so that hospitals are presenting information in a way that insures a timely, bureaucratic response.
• Educate health plans so they understand the benefits and urgency of supporting hospitals that choose to implement Modern Pricing.
• Track progress of the participating hospitals along an implementation timeline and provide progress reports to participating hospitals and the HASC Board.
• Ensure the media and other stakeholders are appropriately informed of this progress at the appropriate time. 

Outside experts involved in MPTI include Anne McLeod, Senior Vice President, Health Policy, CHA; Alyssa Keefe, Vice President, Federal Regulatory Affairs, CHA; Lloyd Bookman, Esq., Hooper, Lundy & Bookman; Trahan Whitten, Principle, and Eric Schulz, Manager, HFS Consultants; and Bob Hudson, CFO, Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital. Hudson, along with many of his colleagues, has been on a five-year journey to redesign a more realistic charging structure, which his hospital implemented for Materials, Pharmacy, and Room and Board in October 2013.

HASC will begin the formal recruitment process for MPTI in August. In the meantime, hospitals interested in more information about HASC’s Modern Pricing and Transparency Initiative should contact Mark Gamble, Senior Vice President/COO, HASC, at 213.538.0760 or mgamble@hasc.org.

1 The Hospital Association of Southern California (HASC) is a membership organization that seeks to develop consensus, establish public policy priorities, and represent and advocate on behalf of the interests of hospitals and health systems. In concert with its members and member organizations, HASC is committed to establishing and maintaining an environment within which hospitals can continue to provide high-quality patient care.

Consistent with HASC’s mission, it is the policy of HASC to comply with all applicable laws, including federal and state antitrust laws. HASC, its Board of Trustees, committees and members come together to discuss topics and issues important to the hospital industry. It is the intent of HASC to comply fully with all legal obligations when exploring issues that might provide general benefit to the industry.

HASC acknowledges and recognizes that discussing issues significant to the hospital industry could be characterized as an opportunity to exchange information that could implicate anticompetitive or otherwise unlawful conduct in violation of antitrust laws. Therefore, communications are confined to subjects directly related to regulatory activities or public policy.