Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Healthcare Billing topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Committee backs patient-friendly billing framework but flags collection-agency language for revision
Summary
The committee advanced a bill that would require plain-language, itemized bills and restrict debt collection until billing is provided or waived; a senator objected to language shielding collection agencies from liability and will work with sponsors on edits before the floor.
A bill to make health-care billing more transparent won committee approval to move forward, though senators asked the authors to tighten language that could shield debt collectors from liability for inaccurate bills.
The sponsor described the measure as a requirement for an "itemized bill" presented in common-sense terms and plain language, drawing on Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' (CMS) plain-language principles. The bill would let health-care facilities provide bills electronically (for example, via a patient portal) and would prohibit providers from pursuing debt collection unless billing had been provided or the patient had expressly waived receipt. If a patient initially waived electronic delivery, facilities could later provide the bill in electronic or written form.
The text also says collection agencies must stop collection efforts and return accounts to the facility when notified of billing inaccuracies; it further ties violations of the billing requirement to existing licensure disciplinary enforcement. That subsection prompted a sustained objection from Senator Barnsberg, who said the provision as drafted could give collectors a "get out of jail free card" by broadly exempting them from liability. He moved to strike the sentence in subsection 6 and said he would hold his name on the bill until revised language is drafted; the sponsor agreed to work on alternative wording and to consult providers and consumer-affairs stakeholders.
Staff indicated they had circulated fiscal and program-impact material (SPAs/FIS) and would check outstanding responses from hospital providers prior to floor consideration. The committee signaled a will to report the bill favorably with the sponsor and other senators resolving the subsection-language concerns before the bill proceeds.
Next steps: The sponsor will work with stakeholders on revised liability language and the committee will post the bill for floor consideration once the refinements are complete.
