I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 6855 

To ensure timely bills for patients. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

DECEMBER 19, 2023 

Mr. GALLAGHER introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To ensure timely bills for patients. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Timely Bills for Pa5 tients Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. TIMELY BILLS FOR PATIENTS. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.— 

8 (1) AMENDMENT.—Part P of title III of the 

9 Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 280g et seq.) 

10 is amended by adding at the end the following: 

11 ‘‘SEC. 399V–7. TIMELY BILLS FOR PATIENTS. 

12 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall require— 


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1 ‘‘(1) health care facilities, or in the case of 

2 practitioners providing services outside of such a fa3 cility, practitioners, to provide to patients a list of 

4 services rendered during the visit to such facility or 

5 practitioner, and, in the case of a facility, the name 

6 of the provider for each such service, upon discharge 

7 or by postal or electronic communication as soon as 

8 practicable and not later than 5 calendar days after 

9 discharge; and 

10 ‘‘(2) health care facilities and practitioners to 

11 send all adjudicated bills to the patient as soon as 

12 practicable, but not later than 45 calendar days 

13 after discharge. 

14 ‘‘(b) PAYMENT AFTER BILLING.—No patient may be 

15 required to pay a bill for health care services any earlier 

16 than 30 calendar days after receipt of a bill for such serv17 ices. 

18 ‘‘(c) EFFECT OF VIOLATION.— 

19 ‘‘(1) NOTIFICATION AND REFUND REQUIRE20 MENTS.— 

21 ‘‘(A) PROVIDER LISTS.—If a facility or 

22 practitioner fails to provide a patient a list as 

23 required under subsection (a)(1), such facility 

24 or practitioner shall report such failure to the 

25 Secretary. 


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1 ‘‘(B) BILLING.—If a facility or practitioner 

2 bills a patient after the 45-calendar-day period 

3 described in subsection (a)(2), such facility or 

4 practitioner shall— 

5 ‘‘(i) report such bill to the Secretary; 

6 and 

7 ‘‘(ii) refund the patient for the full 

8 amount paid in response to such bill with 

9 interest, at a rate determined by the Sec10 retary. 

11 ‘‘(2) CIVIL MONETARY PENALTIES.— 

12 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may 

13 impose civil monetary penalties of up to 

14 $10,000 a day on any facility or practitioner 

15 that— 

16 ‘‘(i) fails to provide a list required 

17 under subsection (a)(1) more than 10 

18 times, beginning on the date of such tenth 

19 failure; 

20 ‘‘(ii) submits more than 10 bills out21 side of the period described in subsection 

22 (a)(2), beginning on the date on which 

23 such facility or practitioner sends the tenth 

24 such bill; 


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1 ‘‘(iii) fails to report to the Secretary 

2 any failure to provide lists as required 

3 under paragraph (1)(A), beginning on the 

4 date that is 45 calendar days after dis5 charge; or 

6 ‘‘(iv) fails to send any bill as required 

7 under subsection (a)(2), beginning on the 

8 date that is 45 calendar days after the 

9 date of discharge or visit, as applicable. 

10 ‘‘(B) PROCEDURE.—The provisions of sec11 tion 1128A of the Social Security Act, other 

12 than subsections (a) and (b) and the first sen13 tence of subsection (c)(1) of such section, shall 

14 apply to civil money penalties under this sub15 section in the same manner as such provisions 

16 apply to a penalty or proceeding under section 

17 1128A of the Social Security Act. 

18 ‘‘(3) SAFE HARBOR.—The Secretary may ex19 empt a practitioner or facility from the penalties 

20 under paragraph (2)(A) or extend the period of time 

21 specified under subsection (a)(2) for compliance with 

22 such subsection if a practitioner or facility— 

23 ‘‘(A) makes a good faith attempt to send 

24 a bill within 30 days but is unable to do so be25 cause of an incorrect address; or 


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1 ‘‘(B) experiences extenuating cir2 cumstances (as defined by the Secretary), such 

3 as a hurricane or cyberattack, that may reason4 ably delay delivery of a timely bill.’’. 

5 (2) RULEMAKING.—Not later than 1 year after 

6 the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary 

7 shall promulgate final regulations to define the term 

8 ‘‘extenuating circumstance’’ for purposes of section 

9 399V–7(c)(3)(B) of the Public Health Service Act, 

10 as added by paragraph (1). 

11 (b) GROUP HEALTH PLAN AND HEALTH INSURANCE

12 ISSUER REQUIREMENTS.—Subpart II of part A of title 

13 XXVII of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 

14 300gg–11) is amended by adding to the end the following: 

15 ‘‘SEC. 2729A. TIMELY BILLS FOR PATIENTS. 

16 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—A group health plan or health 

17 insurance issuer offering group or individual health insur18 ance coverage shall have in place business practices with 

19 respect to in-network facilities and practitioners to ensure 

20 that claims are adjudicated in order to facilitate facility 

21 and practitioner compliance with the requirements under 

22 section 399V–7(a). 

23 ‘‘(b) CLARIFICATION.—Nothing in subsection (a) pro24 hibits a provider and a group health plan or health insur25 ance issuer from establishing in a contract the timeline 


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1 for submission by either party to the other party of billing 

2 information, adjudication, sending of remittance informa3 tion, or any other coordination required between the pro4 vider and the plan or issuer necessary for meeting the 

5 deadline described in section 399V–7(a)(2).’’. 

6 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

7 subsections (a) and (b) shall take effect 6 months after 

8 the date of enactment of this Act. 

Æ 


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