NEWS

Report: Only 6 of 39 Louisiana Hospitals Transparency Compliant; Half in RRR Listening Area

Red River Radio | By Jeff Ferrell,

Published August 29, 2025 at 12:23 PM CDT

Of the six hospitals in compliance with cost transparency rule, half are located in the Red River Radio listening Area: Christus St. Frances Cabrini Hospital in Alexandria, Christus Coushatta Health Care Center, and Christus Shreveport-Bossier – Highland Medical Center.

A recent study reveals that only six out of 39 hospitals in Louisiana fully comply with a 2019 Executive Order from then-President Donald Trump, calling for greater transparency in pricing and quality of services. As the Louisiana Radio Network reports, Beth Branley is a supporter of the nonprofit watchdog group PatientRightsAdvocate.org. “We need to do something about this. This information should be out here and readily available to all of us, but it’s not.”
The American Hospital Association (AHA) says hospitals and health systems have invested significant time and resources to comply with the Hospital Price Transparency Rule. The AHA says according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), compliance has been growing rapidly, and the Patient Rights Advocate report blatantly mischaracterizes hospitals compliance.

KFF analysts examined data from the National Health Expenditure (NHE) data to conclude, on a per capita basis, health spending has increased in the last five decades from $353 per year in 1970 to $14,570 per year in 2023. In constant 2023 dollars, the increase was from $2,151 in 1970 to $14,570 in 2023.

In a detailed letter sent July 21, 2025, to Administrator Mehmet Oz, M.D., of the (CMS), AHA Senior Vice President Ashley Thompson delivered an exhaustive listing of facts, formulas and systems used in detailing pricing information, which is then made public.
But Branley strongly disagrees with such assessments, instead concluding that the report conducted by PatientRightsAdvocate.org clearly points out that most Louisiana hospitals’ rate of compliance stands at 15%, far below even the surprising low national average of 21.1% of hospitals reviewed for the study.
Out of the six hospitals throughout Louisiana in full compliance with the cost transparency rule, half are located within the Red River Radio listening Area. They include: Christus St. Frances Cabrini Hospital in Alexandria, Christus Coushatta Health Care Center, and Christus Shreveport-Bossier – Highland Medical Center.

The Patient Rights study encourages “CMS to timely reverse its recent rollbacks from real prices to estimates, averages, algorithms, and percentages, because they only serve to obfuscate real prices and mislead patients.” The report then adds, “We call on CMS to immediately begin strongly enforcing the rule, starting with the 532 hospitals that did not pass its own Validator Tool.”
Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) contends that his bill, the Hospital Transparency Compliance Enforcement Act, would help the Trump administration enforce price transparency rules by holding hospitals to account for their billing practices. His measure would double fines for violations, up to $11,000 per day for large hospitals.