BERGEN COUNTY, N.J. — Four Bergen County hospitals are among nearly 20 New Jersey hospitals and medical centers listed as noncompliant with federal hospital price-transparency requirements in a new report from PatientRightsAdvocate.org, according to a report Friday in The Bergen Record.
Englewood Hospital was not listed as either compliant or noncompliant in the report. Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, which is in the process of acquiring Englewood Hospital, is listed as compliant.
The Bergen hospitals listed as noncompliant are Holy Name Medical Center, Hackensack University Medical Center, The Valley Hospital and Bergen New Bridge Medical Center.
The report examined 41 of New Jersey’s 69 hospitals and found that nearly half met the advocacy group’s criteria for making prices available online in a way that allows patients to determine what care will cost.
The group’s findings use criteria it says are designed to determine whether patients can actually access usable prices, rather than simply whether a hospital has posted large amounts of pricing data online.
That distinction has drawn criticism from the New Jersey Hospital Association, whose president, Cathy Bennett, said the report uses its own methodology and completeness criteria that are not part of federal regulations.
“PRA’s analysis is not a CMS finding of noncompliance,” Bennett said.
Hospitals named in the report have similarly disputed the findings.
Bergen New Bridge, the state’s largest hospital, said its pricing database was developed in accordance with federal requirements and is checked using the federal government’s validator tool.
“We are reviewing the specific technical issue identified in the report with our price transparency partner to understand the basis for the organization’s finding,” a New Bridge spokeswoman said.
Valley Hospital and Hackensack Meridian Health, which operates Hackensack University Medical Center, also said their hospitals comply with federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services requirements.
The report comes as hospitals face continued pressure to make medical costs easier for patients to understand. Federal rules have required hospitals since 2021 to publicly post pricing information for services, but advocates say the massive databases and online calculators many hospitals use can still make it difficult for patients to determine an actual price.
PatientRightsAdvocate.org said New Jersey’s compliance rate has improved substantially from its 2024 review, when only 9% of hospitals it examined met its criteria. Nationally, the group found about 49% of roughly 2,000 hospitals it analyzed this year met its criteria.
The report also comes after the federal government in June cited more than 500 hospitals nationwide, including eight New Jersey hospitals and medical facilities, for failing to provide basic pricing information.
The advocacy group argues that more accessible pricing information could allow patients to compare costs before receiving care. Hospitals and the New Jersey Hospital Association maintain that compliance should be measured against federal CMS standards rather than the advocacy group’s methodology.
