Title: Health Care Expenses

Summary: Requiring a licensed facility to establish, update, and make public a list of the facility's charges for services which meets certain federal requirements; prohibiting consumer reporting agencies from publishing a consumer report containing a medical debt credit impairment under certain circumstances; requiring the consumer reporting agency to remove the credit impairment, free of charge, under certain circumstances; authorizing patient-consumers to initiate legal proceedings for violations; prohibiting persons from reporting certain consumer debt to a consumer reporting agency without the express written consent of the creditor, etc.

Full Text:
An act relating to health care expenses; amending s. 395.301, F.S.; requiring a licensed facility to establish, update, and make public a list of the facility s charges for services which meets certain federal requirements; requiring the Agency for Health Care Administration to impose fines for violations of the public disclosure requirements; creating s. 501.181, F.S.; defining terms; prohibiting consumer reporting agencies from publishing a consumer report containing a medical debt credit impairment under certain circumstances; requiring the consumer reporting agency to remove the credit impairment, free of charge, under certain circumstances; requiring the agency to obtain express written consent from a patient-consumer s health care provider before publishing a consumer report containing a medical debt credit impairment; authorizing patient-consumers to initiate legal proceedings for violations; providing for damages and the award of attorney fees; requiring such actions to commence within a specified timeframe; authorizing the use of arbitration for disputes; requiring the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services to adopt rules; amending s. 559.72, F.S.; prohibiting persons from reporting certain consumer debt to a consumer reporting agency without the express written consent of the creditor; providing an effective date. Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: Section 1. Present paragraphs (b), (c), and (d) of subsection (1) of section 395.301, Florida Statutes, are redesignated as paragraphs (c), (d), and (e), respectively, and a new paragraph (b) is added to subsection (1) of that section, to read: 395.301 Price transparency; itemized patient statement or bill; patient admission status notification.  (1) A facility licensed under this chapter shall provide timely and accurate financial information and quality of service measures to patients and prospective patients of the facility, or to patients  survivors or legal guardians, as appropriate. Such information shall be provided in accordance with this section and rules adopted by the agency pursuant to this chapter and s. 408.05. Licensed facilities operating exclusively as state facilities are exempt from this subsection. ( b)   Each licensed facility shall establish, update, and make public a list of the facility s standard charges for all items and services provided by the facility, consistent with C.F.R. part.The agency shall impose a fine of $500 per day per instance of noncompliance for a facility that is required to comply with C.F.R. part and that violates this paragraph. Section 2. Section 501.181, Florida Statutes, is created to read: 501.18  Patient credit protection.  (1)   DEFINITIONS. As used in this section, the term: (a)    Consumer report  has the same meaning as in U.S.C. s. 1681a(d). (b)    Consumer reporting agency  has the same meaning as in U.S.C. s. 1681a(f). ( c)    Health benefit plan  means any individual, blanket, or group plan, policy, or contract for health care services issued in this state by an authorized health care insurer, health maintenance organization, hospital medical service corporation, or self-insured plan in this state. The term does not include supplemental plans. ( d)    Health care provider  means a person or an entity that is licensed, certified, or otherwise authorized by the laws of this state to provide health care services. ( e)    Medical debt  means the outstanding balance a patient consumer owes to a health care provider for health care services. ( f)    Patient-consumer  means an individual who receives health care services from a health care provider. (2)   CREDIT PROTECTION FOR PATIENT-CONSUMERS. A consumer reporting agency may not publish a consumer report containing a credit impairment resulting from a patient-consumer s medical debt if all of the following conditions apply: (a)   The patient-consumer was covered by a health benefit plan when the health care services giving rise to the medical debt were provided and such services were covered by the health benefit plan. (b)   The patient-consumer s medical debt is an outstanding balance after the patient-consumer s copayments, deductibles, and coinsurance amounts owed for health care services were fully paid or settled or ar ebeing paid as part of a payment plan. (3)   REMOVAL OF CREDIT IMPAIRMENT.  (a)   If a consumer reporting agency receives notification from a creditor indicating that a patient-consumer s medical debt has been fully paid or settled or that the patient-consumer is in compliance with a payment plan, the consumer reporting agency must remove any credit impairment resulting from the applicable medical debt within days after receiving such notification. Such notification may include, but is not limited to, documentation showing the status of the patient-consumer s medical debt. (b)   A consumer reporting agency may not charge the patient consumer a fee to remove the credit impairment. (4)   EXPRESS CONSENT. A consumer reporting agency may not publi sh a consumer report with a credit impairment resulting from a patient-consumer s medical debt without the express written consent of a patient-consumer s health care provider. (5)   PRIVATE RIGHT OF ACTION.  (a)   A patient-consumer who is aggrieved by a violation of this section may bring an action to: 1.   Enjoin the violation. 2.   Recover actual damages or $1,500, whichever is greater. (b)   In addition to any damages awarded, a patient-consumer shall also be awarded reasonable attorney fees and court costs. (c)   A civil action pursuant to this section must be commenced within years after the violation occurs.(d)   All parties to the action may agree to arbitration to resolve the medical debt reporting dispute. ( )   RULEMAKING. The Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services shall adopt rules to implement this section. Section 3. Subsection (20) is added to section 559.72, Florida Statutes, to read: 559.72 Prohibited practices generally. In collecting consumer debts, no person shall: (20)  Report a credit impairment resulting from a patient consumer s medical debt to a consumer reporting agency, as defined in U.S.C. s. 1681a(f), without the express written consent of the creditor, if the creditor is a health care provider who provided the patient-consumer with health care services. Section 4. This act shall take effect July 1, 2022.