‘Control Your Care’ campaign informs consumers of health care law reforms
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Although state and federal policymakers, with support from the hospital community, have passed a series of consumer-friendly laws promoting health insurance and hospital price transparency and protecting patients and families, recent polling suggests that Virginians are largely unaware of the reforms.
To address that information gap, Virginia Hospital & Healthcare Association is launching the "Control Your Care" public awareness campaign to ensure patients and families know their rights to help them make informed medical decisions.
The campaign includes a website, ControlYourCare.com, with information about consumer-focused health care reforms, links to state and federal laws and descriptions of what the laws do, and other tools to serve the public. The campaign will be supported with statewide digital and broadcast advertising to help raise public awareness about the availability of these resources.
Among the patient-focused health care laws and reforms enacted in recent years by the Virginia General Assembly and the U.S. Congress are a 2016 law requiring hospitals to provide a good faith price estimate to patients undergoing an elective procedure or test at a hospital upon request at least three days prior to the service, and a 2020 law that protects patients from surprise medical bills when they get care from an out-of-network doctor at an in-network facility during emergencies and some non-emergencies.
Other reforms include a federal regulation finalized in 2021 requiring group health plans and health insurance issuers to disclose cost-sharing information to members and to post files online containing all negotiated payment rates, a 2022 law requiring hospitals to post price information about medical items and services online, and a 2022 law requiring hospitals to post information about charity care policies and advise uninsured patients about financial assistance policies and payment plan options.
In addition to launching ControlYourCare.com, VHHA has created a searchable listing of links to price information for hospitals across Virginia. For details, visit https://vhhastagingstg.wpengine.com/data-analytics-hospital-transparency/.
