Senate committee advances bill to ban hospital "facility fees" for many outpatient visits

Senate File 1503, a measure to prohibit so-called facility fees charged by hospital-affiliated clinics for many nonemergency outpatient services, was recommended to pass as amended by the Minnesota Senate Health and Human Services Committee on Feb. 18, 2025 and was referred to the Judiciary Committee.

The bill’s author, Senator Uma Verbatin, told the committee the legislation would “eliminate facility fees” that she characterized as “predatory, unpredictable and very hard to avoid,” and that facility fees result from consolidation when hospitals acquire clinics and then add separate charges unrelated to the care delivered.

Verbatin said facility fees can appear for routine services—including preventive care, evaluation-and-management visits and telehealth—and sometimes exceed the professional charge for the visit. “These fees are driving up health care costs,” she said. She described the bill’s provisions, including a definition section, a prohibition on facility fees for nonemergency…