Executive Order 13877: Improving Price and Quality Transparency in American Healthcare To Put Patients First
President: Donald J. Trump
Directed HHS, Treasury and Labor to pursue hospital and insurer price transparency and patient-facing cost information through separate rulemaking. The order itself did not post prices or set them.
Status: In effect. Is Executive Order 13877 still in effect? Yes. Executive Order 13877 remains in effect. See Federal Register record.
What does Executive Order 13877 do?
CMS finalized hospital standard-charge disclosure requirements in November 2019, with hospital compliance beginning January 2021.
Evidence review, September 23, 2026: CMS subsequently implemented hospital price-transparency requirements, including public disclosure of standard charges.
Before and after
Before the order
Patients often lacked advance, comparable hospital price information; existing Medicare payment schedules were distinct from each hospital's negotiated charges.
After the order
CMS finalized hospital standard-charge disclosure requirements in November 2019, with hospital compliance beginning January 2021.
The order requested rulemaking under existing authorities. CMS's subsequent hospital transparency rule, rather than the order alone, imposed disclosure duties; published charges are not a guarantee of a patient's final bill.
Who had to do what
| Agency / official | What the signed order directed | Deadline / timing |
|---|---|---|
| Secretary of Health and Human Services | Propose hospital rules disclosing actual charges, including negotiated rates, in an understandable, regularly updated format for shoppable services. With Treasury and Labor, seek comment on advance out-of-pocket cost information. Report competition/transparency barriers with Justice and FTC. With Defense and Veterans Affairs, develop a quality-metrics roadmap; expand access to deidentified claims data after consulting the named agencies; report surprise-billing measures. | Hospital rule within 60 days; joint advance notice within 90 days; barriers report, quality roadmap, data-access actions/report, and surprise-billing report within 180 days. |
| Secretary of the Treasury | Join HHS and Labor on advance out-of-pocket cost information and consult on claims-data access. Issue guidance expanding HSA-compatible preventive care for chronic conditions, propose treatment of direct primary care and healthcare-sharing expenses as eligible medical expenses, and increase flexible-spending-account carryovers. | Joint advance notice within 90 days; preventive-care guidance within 120 days; proposed expense regulations and carryover guidance within 180 days. |
| Secretary of Labor | Join HHS and Treasury on advance out-of-pocket cost information and consult on deidentified claims-data access. | Advance notice within 90 days; data-access work within 180 days. |
| Secretary of Defense | With HHS and Veterans Affairs, align quality measures across federal healthcare programs, removing low-value or counterproductive measures; consult on claims-data access. | Roadmap and data-access work within 180 days. |
| Secretary of Veterans Affairs | With HHS and Defense, align quality measures across federal healthcare programs, removing low-value or counterproductive measures; consult on claims-data access. | Roadmap and data-access work within 180 days. |
| Attorney General | Consult with HHS on barriers to healthcare price and quality transparency and competition. | Report within 180 days. |
| FTC Chair | Consult with HHS on barriers to healthcare price and quality transparency and competition. | Report within 180 days. |
| OPM Director | Consult with HHS on access to deidentified claims data consistent with privacy and security protections. | Data-access work within 180 days. |
Source: Signed Federal Register text.
Later developments
Later authority: CMS finalized hospital standard-charge disclosure requirements in November 2019, with hospital compliance beginning January 2021. (November 15, 2019)
What happened next
EO 13877 signed.
CMS finalized hospital standard-charge disclosure requirements in November 2019, with hospital compliance beginning January 2021.
Guide checked against signed order and later official evidence.
Legal and source detail
How it works legally
The order requested rulemaking under existing authorities. CMS's subsequent hospital transparency rule, rather than the order alone, imposed disclosure duties; published charges are not a guarantee of a patient's final bill.
Sources by type
If a source is unavailable, first check the cited publisher or another official repository. The cited publisher remains the authority.
Primary and official sources
Orders, laws, court records and official implementation material.
- CMS — Hospital Price Transparency program (opens in a new tab) Official record
How we checked this
Last checked against the sources above on September 26, 2026. How we research →