Committee backs patient-friendly billing bill requiring itemized hospital bills, excludes urgent care

The Medical, Military, Public and Municipal Affairs Committee reported House Bill 4069 favorably as amended, approving a measure that would require hospitals and specified health-care facilities to provide patients with an itemized bill in either physical or electronic format.

Representative Sessions presented the bill and described it as a patient-billing transparency measure that previously passed the House unanimously and stalled in the Senate. Under the bill as amended, patients must be given an itemized bill; they may waive receipt or opt out, and an initial waiver does not prevent a patient from later requesting the itemized bill. Committee members and staff said the amendment is intended to reduce burdens on billing systems and create a universal, minimum standard for itemized bills across facilities.

Representative…