TITLE: Relating to itemized billing for health care services and supplies provided by health care providers.

SUMMARY: Relating to itemized billing for health care services and supplies provided by health care providers.

FULL TEXT:
AN ACT relating to itemized billing for health care services and supplies provided by health care providers. BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: SECTION 1. Section 185.002, Health and Safety Code, is amended by amending Subsections (a), (c), and (d) and adding Subsection (c-1) to read as follows: (a) A health care provider that requests payment from a patient after providing a health care service or related supply to the patient shall submit with the request a written, itemized bill of the alleged amount due for [cost of] each service and supply provided to the patient during the patient's visit to the provider. The provider must submit the itemized bill not later than the 30th day after the provider receives a final payment on the provided service or supply from a third party. (c) A health care provider may issue the itemized bill:(1) electronically, including through a patient portal on the provider's Internet website,subject to Subsection (c-1); (2) through a hard copy delivered by mail or a common carrier; or (3) through a hard copy the patient or the patient's designee obtains at the provider's place of business.(c-1) A health care provider that issues an itemized bill to a patient electronically through a patient portal under Subsection (c) shall: (1) determine whether the patient has an active patient profile on the portal, if feasible; and (2) mail, e-mail, or provide a physical copy of the itemized bill to the patient, according to the patient's chosen method of issuance, if the health care provider: (A) determines the patient does not have an active patient portal; or (B) is unable to determine whether the patient has an active patient portal. (d) A patient is entitled to obtain from the health care provider an itemized bill:(1) subject to Subdivision (3), on request [at any time] after the itemized bill is initially issued under Subsection (a);(2) through the patient's chosen method of issuance in accordance with Subsection (c); and (3) until the date the provider is no longer required to retain an itemized bill under applicable record retention laws or provider policies and procedures regarding retention of patient billing information.SECTION 2. Section 185.003, Health and Safety Code, is amended to read as follows: Sec. 185.003. DISCIPLINARY ACTION BY LICENSING AUTHORITY. (a) The appropriate licensing authority shall take disciplinary action against a health care [the] provider that violates this chapter [for the violation] as if the provider violated an applicable licensing law. (b) Subsection (a) does not apply to a health care provider that in good faith mails a hard copy of an itemized bill to a patient if: (1) the mailed copy is returned as undeliverable or lost; or (2) the address on file for the patient was not current at the time the itemized bill was mailed. SECTION 3. Sections 311.002(b), (c), and (d), Health and Safety Code, are repealed. SECTION 4. The changes in law made by this Act apply only to an itemized bill issued on or after the effective date of this Act. An itemized bill issued before the effective date of this Act is governed by the law in effect on the date the itemized bill was issued, and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose. SECTION 5. This Act takes effect September 1, 2025.