Senate adopts hospital transparency amendment, passes reporting measure after divided debate
March 31, 2025 | 2025 Legislature WV, West Virginia
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The West Virginia Senate passed Senate Bill 718, a hospital transparency measure, on March 31 by a vote of 22 yays to 12 nays after a contested floor debate and adoption of a strike‑and‑insert amendment.
On third reading the Senate approved an amendment offered by the senator from Jefferson that moved certain reporting duties from the Insurance Commissioner back to the West Virginia Health Care Authority, removed a requirement for audited financial statements and instead required specific components to be published on hospital web pages and on the Health Care Authority’s existing online archive. “The amendment is a strike and insert,” the senator from Jefferson explained, “It moves reporting from the West Virginia insurance commissioner back to the West Virginia Health Care Authority… and requires publication of information on the Health Care Authority's existing online document archive system.”
Supporters said the bill is necessary to give the public and lawmakers better information about hospital charges, facility fees and executive compensation. “We cannot lower health care costs for our constituents unless we know what the hospitals are charging,” said the senator from Ohio, noting rising premiums for state and local employees and gaps in publicly‑available hospital charge data. A junior senator from the second district displayed a hospital website during debate and said current hospital links led users to large downloadable spreadsheets that are “very confusing for a lot of our people at home.”
Opponents argued the information required is duplicative, costly to maintain and of limited public utility. The senior senator from the seventeenth warned that much of hospital care is paid by government programs (Medicaid, Medicare) and said the state office previously charged with similar work was reduced and that the bill could carry an unaccounted fiscal note. “If you want to decrease the cost of health care in West Virginia, then attract employers,” the senior senator from the fourth said, and characterized the transparency provisions as likely to produce studies rather than lower costs.
The Senate adopted the amendment and later passed the bill on third reading. The clerk recorded the vote as 22 yays and 12 nays. The bill will be reengrossed and the clerk will communicate the action to the House.
On third reading the Senate approved an amendment offered by the senator from Jefferson that moved certain reporting duties from the Insurance Commissioner back to the West Virginia Health Care Authority, removed a requirement for audited financial statements and instead required specific components to be published on hospital web pages and on the Health Care Authority’s existing online archive. “The amendment is a strike and insert,” the senator from Jefferson explained, “It moves reporting from the West Virginia insurance commissioner back to the West Virginia Health Care Authority… and requires publication of information on the Health Care Authority's existing online document archive system.”
Supporters said the bill is necessary to give the public and lawmakers better information about hospital charges, facility fees and executive compensation. “We cannot lower health care costs for our constituents unless we know what the hospitals are charging,” said the senator from Ohio, noting rising premiums for state and local employees and gaps in publicly‑available hospital charge data. A junior senator from the second district displayed a hospital website during debate and said current hospital links led users to large downloadable spreadsheets that are “very confusing for a lot of our people at home.”
Opponents argued the information required is duplicative, costly to maintain and of limited public utility. The senior senator from the seventeenth warned that much of hospital care is paid by government programs (Medicaid, Medicare) and said the state office previously charged with similar work was reduced and that the bill could carry an unaccounted fiscal note. “If you want to decrease the cost of health care in West Virginia, then attract employers,” the senior senator from the fourth said, and characterized the transparency provisions as likely to produce studies rather than lower costs.
The Senate adopted the amendment and later passed the bill on third reading. The clerk recorded the vote as 22 yays and 12 nays. The bill will be reengrossed and the clerk will communicate the action to the House.
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