Coastal Empire hospitals flagged by pricing transparency Agency

STATESBORO, Ga. (WTOC) - The federal government is flagging hospitals in the Coastal Empire for not complying with 2026 pricing transparency guidelines.

East Georgia Regional in Statesboro and Evans Memorial in Claxton both received warning notices for not following 2026 guidelines posted by CMS, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The government organization enforces hospitals to be transparent with their pricing.

Both hospitals said they have already fixed what they were flagged for.

The guidelines on pricing are aimed at giving patients more transparency. Some of the new guidelines are machine readable files, and posted prices must be from insurance payment records.

Evans Memorial provided their written notice from CMS. They were specifically flagged for comprehensive machine-readable file requirements. Hospitals have 90 days to correct and become compliant.

“And based on what we had that was visible to our consumer to our patients we felt that we were in compliance because all of our price transparency information and charge master information was readily available online,” said Bill Lee, chief executive officer at Evans Memorial Hospital.

WTOC verified that Evans Memorial website does have price transparency dedicated page that lists hundreds of procedures.

Evans Memorial Hospital - Pricer Tool

“Quote in compliance, with their needs for having a machine readable file, and so we have updated that, and there was a cost associated with that, essentially around 7,000 dollars to update our platform,” Lee said.

East Georgia Regional wrote a statement in response to their name showing up on the list, reading in part: “Updated requirements in 2026 require very specific components be added to the code underlying the posted information, which is what triggered the notification from CMS. We took immediate action to correct this technical issue and are awaiting confirmation that CMS has accepted the correction.”

East Georgia Regional’s website with price transparency information can be found on the link below

www.eastgeorgiaregional.com/pricing-information

Jeff Davis Hospital in Hazelhurst received a corrective action plan request. CMS says a hospital receiving a corrective action plan is not in compliance and specifically did not have any machine-readable files or a shoppable services list for consumers.

Jeff Davis Hospital also had a page for price transparency on their website as well.

jeffdavis.pg.quadax.revenuemasters.com/disclaimer

CMS provided a statement that reads in part: “HPT, Hospital Price Transparency remains a priority for this administration. CMS will continue to monitor compliance and take appropriate enforcement action to ensure hospitals provide consumers with meaningful pricing information as required by law.”

WTOC is still awaiting a response from Jeff Davis Hopsital and will provide their statement below when it becomes available.