The Psychiatric Hospital Inspection Transparency Act of 2025 would amend the Social Security Act to make accreditation survey information for hospitals, including psychiatric facilities, more accessible to the public. It requires accreditation bodies to include additional data in CMS survey forms and to develop a standardized successor form.
Additionally, the bill mandates public dissemination of psychiatric hospital survey information on the CMS Care Compare website starting two years after enactment, with privacy protections to prevent patient or provider identification. The overall aim is to increase transparency so consumers can make informed choices about where to receive care, while preserving data privacy and the integrity of survey processes.
At a Glance
What It Does
Beginning two years after enactment, accreditation bodies must include additional information in CMS Form 2567 (or its successor) and the Secretary must develop a standardized successor form. Separately, Section 1866 adds a new subsection requiring public publication of psychiatric hospital survey information on Care Compare, subject to privacy safeguards.
Who It Affects
National accreditation bodies, hospitals and psychiatric hospitals, CMS, and health care consumers using Care Compare. Privacy officers and hospital administrators will interact with the new reporting and publication requirements.
Why It Matters
It creates a standardized, public-facing data stream for psychiatric hospital quality information, enabling apples-to-apples comparisons for consumers while enforcing privacy protections and stakeholder-driven design.
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What This Bill Actually Does
The bill tightens the information flow around hospital accreditation surveys. It obligates national accreditation bodies to supplement survey data in the CMS 2567 form and to adopt a standardized successor form within two years.
It then adds a public reporting obligation: psychiatric hospital survey information will be posted on Care Compare, with the data chosen to help patients compare where to seek care. Publication must respect privacy rules, meaning no patient identities or individual provider identities can be disclosed, and the Secretary must consult with stakeholders to determine what information should be disclosed and how it should be formatted.
The result is greater transparency about psychiatric hospital surveys while maintaining data privacy and respecting the practical needs of accrediting bodies and hospitals.
The Five Things You Need to Know
The bill amends Section 1865 to require more information be captured in accreditation surveys via CMS Form 2567 (or a successor).
A successor form must be developed by the Secretary in collaboration with national accreditation bodies.
Starting two years after enactment, psychiatric hospital survey information must be published on the Care Compare website.
Disclosures are limited by HIPAA privacy regulations and must not reveal patient identities or individual providers.
The Secretary must identify what information to disclose and how to format it through stakeholder engagement.
Section-by-Section Breakdown
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Amendments to Section 1865—survey information and new reporting requirement
The bill amends Section 1865 to require national accreditation bodies that conduct accreditation surveys to include in CMS Form 2567 (or a successor form) additional information beginning two years after enactment. It also directs the Secretary to develop a standardized successor form in collaboration with relevant stakeholders, ensuring the form meets the needs of accreditation bodies and supports consumer decision-making.
Public availability of psychiatric hospital survey information (1866(l))
A new subsection 1866(l) directs the Secretary to publish information the Secretary determines appropriate regarding psychiatric hospital surveys on the Care Compare website, starting two years after enactment. The information must be kept up to date and presented in a manner that helps health care consumers compare where to receive care.
Implementation details and privacy safeguards
Publication is contingent on compliance with privacy protections under HIPAA. The Secretary must ensure that disclosed information does not enable identification of patients or individual health care providers. The bill also requires ongoing consultation with accreditation organizations and psychiatric hospitals to determine what information should be disclosed and how it should be formatted for public use.
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Explore Healthcare in Codify Search →Who Benefits and Who Bears the Cost
Every bill creates winners and losers. Here's who stands to gain and who bears the cost.
Who Benefits
- Health care consumers and patients who rely on Care Compare to choose facilities, gaining access to standardized, comparable survey information.
- National accreditation bodies and hospitals benefit from a clearer, standardized reporting framework that supports consistent data collection and public reporting.
- CMS and federal regulators acquire more transparent data to monitor quality and compliance across psychiatric hospitals.
- Health care researchers and consumer advocacy groups gain easier access to survey information for analysis and advocacy.
Who Bears the Cost
- Hospitals and psychiatric facilities incur costs to gather, verify, and report the additional data required by the amended surveys.
- National accreditation bodies must modify forms and processes to align with the standardized reporting requirements.
- CMS bears ongoing costs to publish, maintain, and secure the public data on Care Compare and to ensure HIPAA compliance.
Key Issues
The Core Tension
The central tension is between maximizing consumer access to meaningful, comparable quality data and protecting patient and provider privacy and data integrity, all while avoiding burdening accreditation bodies and hospitals with onerous reporting requirements.
The bill creates a deliberate shift toward public transparency of accreditation survey information for psychiatric hospitals, but it must be balanced against privacy protections and the risk of data misinterpretation. Because the disclosures hinge on what information is chosen and how it is formatted, there is potential for inconsistent understanding by the public if the data are not contextualized with limitations and explanations.
The two-year delay before publication provides time for standardization and stakeholder input, but it also postpones the public availability of potentially useful information. Implementers will need effective governance to ensure data quality, privacy, and accessibility are maintained as the program scales.
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