Recent CMS proposals to update price transparency requirements have generated a familiar question: If the government is making health care prices easier to disclose, will tools for price transparency still be necessary? The short answer is  yes — arguably more than ever . The proposed changes are meaningful and welcome. But they do  not  make health care pricing simple, self‑explanatory, or easily consumable by the average employer, provider, or patient. What they do instead is shift where...

In this episode, Jarvis T. Gray welcomes Maria Nikol, Founder of Revelar Analytics, to discuss the evolving landscape of price transparency in healthcare, value-based care, and the journey of healthcare entrepreneurship. Maria Nikol shares insights from her 15+ year career, spanning consulting, working with payers, health tech startups, and building a company dedicated to simplifying fair market value for medical services. The conversation dives deep into personal leadership philosophies,...

Starting  January 1, 2026 , new rules from Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will require hospitals to publish far more detailed — and consumer-friendly — pricing information. [1] These changes build on earlier transparency efforts (which first took effect in 2021) that required hospitals to post “standard charges” including gross charges, negotiated rates, cash-pay discounts and other baseline pricing data. [2] The 2026 update significantly raises the bar, aiming to make price...