By WPJ staff

More than 500 hospitals in the U.S. have been warned they are failing to provide the public with basic pricing information, and Minden Medical Center is on that list.

Those hospitals have received notice under a 2019 executive order signed by President Donald Trump which tightened enforcement of price transparency standards.

Since April, hospitals reportedly received either letters of warning or, more severely, requests to submit plans to provide transparency in pricing.

Failure to comply reportedly carries penalties as high as $2 million annually.

According to the list obtained by the Associated Press, Minden Medical Center reportedly received a warning notice. The local healthcare facility is one of 27 Louisiana hospitals on the list.

Minden Medical Center is owned by Allegiance Health Management, Inc., a Bossier City-based firm which owns 10 other hospitals in cities similar to Minden. Rock Bordelon is the company’s CEO.

Including MMC, nine Allegiance hospitals are on the list. Hospitals and their status include:

• Northern Louisiana Medical Center (Ruston): Warning Notice.

• Acadian Medical Center (Eunice) CAP Request.

• Avoyelles Hospital (Marksville): Warning Notice.

• Bienville Medical Center (Arcadia): Warning Notice.

• Byrd Regional Hospital (Leesville): Warning Notice.

• Dequincy Memorial Hospital (Dequincy): Warning Notice.

• Sabine Medical Center (Many): Warning Notice.

• Mercy Regional Medical Center (Ville Platte): Warning Notice.

Goal of the 2019 executive order reportedly is to force hospitals to disclose negotiated prices of tests and procedures, which would allow potential patients to compare costs prior to receiving care. 

Transparency reportedly would “…fix a fundamental problem that patients, employers and insurers might not know ahead of time the cost of blood work, an imaging test or another form of treatment, and as a result pay more than they should have.”