Since late 2024, CMS's price transparency fines cite how the file is built and found
Share of each year's penalty notices that cite each requirement, 2022 to June 3, 2026. CMS posted 2 notices in 2022, 10 in 2023, 3 in 2024, 10 in 2025 and 2 in 2026. The .txt file, the footer link, the affirmation, the CMS template and the hospital's name and license in the file became requirements in 2024
Show the numbers as a table
| Requirement | Year of the penalty notice | Value | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| No machine-readable file found | 2022 | 0% | 0 of 2 notices dated 2022 |
| No machine-readable file found | 2023 | 50% | 5 of 10 notices dated 2023 |
| No machine-readable file found | 2024 | 0% | 0 of 3 notices dated 2024 |
| No machine-readable file found | 2025 | 30% | 3 of 10 notices dated 2025 |
| No machine-readable file found | 2026 | 50% | 1 of 2 notices dated 2026 |
| File leaves out items, charges, codes or locations | 2022 | 100% | 2 of 2 notices dated 2022 |
| File leaves out items, charges, codes or locations | 2023 | 40% | 4 of 10 notices dated 2023 |
| File leaves out items, charges, codes or locations | 2024 | 0% | 0 of 3 notices dated 2024 |
| File leaves out items, charges, codes or locations | 2025 | 0% | 0 of 10 notices dated 2025 |
| File leaves out items, charges, codes or locations | 2026 | 0% | 0 of 2 notices dated 2026 |
| Hospital name, license number and location not in the file | 2022 | 0% | 0 of 2 notices dated 2022 |
| Hospital name, license number and location not in the file | 2023 | 0% | 0 of 10 notices dated 2023 |
| Hospital name, license number and location not in the file | 2024 | 66.67% | 2 of 3 notices dated 2024 |
| Hospital name, license number and location not in the file | 2025 | 50% | 5 of 10 notices dated 2025 |
| Hospital name, license number and location not in the file | 2026 | 0% | 0 of 2 notices dated 2026 |
| Affirmation statement missing from the file | 2022 | 0% | 0 of 2 notices dated 2022 |
| Affirmation statement missing from the file | 2023 | 0% | 0 of 10 notices dated 2023 |
| Affirmation statement missing from the file | 2024 | 66.67% | 2 of 3 notices dated 2024 |
| Affirmation statement missing from the file | 2025 | 20% | 2 of 10 notices dated 2025 |
| Affirmation statement missing from the file | 2026 | 0% | 0 of 2 notices dated 2026 |
| File not updated in the past year, or no update date | 2022 | 0% | 0 of 2 notices dated 2022 |
| File not updated in the past year, or no update date | 2023 | 30% | 3 of 10 notices dated 2023 |
| File not updated in the past year, or no update date | 2024 | 33.33% | 1 of 3 notices dated 2024 |
| File not updated in the past year, or no update date | 2025 | 20% | 2 of 10 notices dated 2025 |
| File not updated in the past year, or no update date | 2026 | 0% | 0 of 2 notices dated 2026 |
| Charges split across more than one file | 2022 | 100% | 2 of 2 notices dated 2022 |
| Charges split across more than one file | 2023 | 10% | 1 of 10 notices dated 2023 |
| Charges split across more than one file | 2024 | 0% | 0 of 3 notices dated 2024 |
| Charges split across more than one file | 2025 | 0% | 0 of 10 notices dated 2025 |
| Charges split across more than one file | 2026 | 0% | 0 of 2 notices dated 2026 |
| File not on the CMS template | 2022 | 0% | 0 of 2 notices dated 2022 |
| File not on the CMS template | 2023 | 0% | 0 of 10 notices dated 2023 |
| File not on the CMS template | 2024 | 66.67% | 2 of 3 notices dated 2024 |
| File not on the CMS template | 2025 | 50% | 5 of 10 notices dated 2025 |
| File not on the CMS template | 2026 | 0% | 0 of 2 notices dated 2026 |
| File name does not follow CMS's naming rule | 2022 | 100% | 2 of 2 notices dated 2022 |
| File name does not follow CMS's naming rule | 2023 | 40% | 4 of 10 notices dated 2023 |
| File name does not follow CMS's naming rule | 2024 | 0% | 0 of 3 notices dated 2024 |
| File name does not follow CMS's naming rule | 2025 | 0% | 0 of 10 notices dated 2025 |
| File name does not follow CMS's naming rule | 2026 | 0% | 0 of 2 notices dated 2026 |
| .txt file missing from the website's root folder, or incomplete | 2022 | 0% | 0 of 2 notices dated 2022 |
| .txt file missing from the website's root folder, or incomplete | 2023 | 0% | 0 of 10 notices dated 2023 |
| .txt file missing from the website's root folder, or incomplete | 2024 | 100% | 3 of 3 notices dated 2024 |
| .txt file missing from the website's root folder, or incomplete | 2025 | 80% | 8 of 10 notices dated 2025 |
| .txt file missing from the website's root folder, or incomplete | 2026 | 50% | 1 of 2 notices dated 2026 |
| No "Price Transparency" link in the website footer | 2022 | 0% | 0 of 2 notices dated 2022 |
| No "Price Transparency" link in the website footer | 2023 | 0% | 0 of 10 notices dated 2023 |
| No "Price Transparency" link in the website footer | 2024 | 66.67% | 2 of 3 notices dated 2024 |
| No "Price Transparency" link in the website footer | 2025 | 40% | 4 of 10 notices dated 2025 |
| No "Price Transparency" link in the website footer | 2026 | 50% | 1 of 2 notices dated 2026 |
| No consumer-friendly list of shoppable services | 2022 | 50% | 1 of 2 notices dated 2022 |
| No consumer-friendly list of shoppable services | 2023 | 60% | 6 of 10 notices dated 2023 |
| No consumer-friendly list of shoppable services | 2024 | 33.33% | 1 of 3 notices dated 2024 |
| No consumer-friendly list of shoppable services | 2025 | 10% | 1 of 10 notices dated 2025 |
| No consumer-friendly list of shoppable services | 2026 | 100% | 2 of 2 notices dated 2026 |
| Price estimator does not give the estimate the rule requires | 2022 | 0% | 0 of 2 notices dated 2022 |
| Price estimator does not give the estimate the rule requires | 2023 | 10% | 1 of 10 notices dated 2023 |
| Price estimator does not give the estimate the rule requires | 2024 | 0% | 0 of 3 notices dated 2024 |
| Price estimator does not give the estimate the rule requires | 2025 | 10% | 1 of 10 notices dated 2025 |
| Price estimator does not give the estimate the rule requires | 2026 | 0% | 0 of 2 notices dated 2026 |
| Consumer-friendly list incomplete, out of date or not searchable | 2022 | 50% | 1 of 2 notices dated 2022 |
| Consumer-friendly list incomplete, out of date or not searchable | 2023 | 10% | 1 of 10 notices dated 2023 |
| Consumer-friendly list incomplete, out of date or not searchable | 2024 | 33.33% | 1 of 3 notices dated 2024 |
| Consumer-friendly list incomplete, out of date or not searchable | 2025 | 20% | 2 of 10 notices dated 2025 |
| Consumer-friendly list incomplete, out of date or not searchable | 2026 | 0% | 0 of 2 notices dated 2026 |
About the data
- Sources
- CMS, Hospital Price Transparency enforcement actions (opens in a new tab)The list of civil monetary penalty notices and the notice each entry links (page last modified June 11, 2026; read October 17, 2026)
- 45 CFR 180.50, requirements for making public hospital standard charges (eCFR) (opens in a new tab)180.50(a)(3)(ii), (b)(2), (c)(2) and (d)(6)
- Method
- Each cell is the number of penalty notices dated that year that cite the requirement, divided by all penalty notices dated that year. A notice counts once per requirement. Kent Applied coded each failure CMS cited at its last review before the notice.
- Published
Free to share and embed with credit to Kent Applied (CC BY 4.0). The source data keeps its own terms.
Related charts
- From research
The .txt file was the requirement CMS cited most often in its 27 price transparency fines
CMS, Hospital Price Transparency enforcement actions - From the blog
CMS has published 27 price transparency fines since 2022, 10 each in 2023 and 2025
CMS, Hospital Price Transparency enforcement actions; 45 CFR 180.90, civil monetary penalties (eCFR) - From research
A fine came 68 to 626 days after CMS asked the hospital for a corrective action plan
CMS, Hospital Price Transparency enforcement actions; CMS, Hospital Price Transparency Enforcement Activities and Outcomes (data.cms.gov) - From research
CMS has fined hospitals in 15 states and Puerto Rico; Texas has the most, with 5
CMS, Hospital Price Transparency enforcement actions
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