Bill > HF1077

This bill modifies Minnesota's healthcare billing transparency and patient protection laws by expanding requirements for medical and dental practices to publicly disclose their standard charges and establishing new restrictions on debt collection. Specifically, the bill requires hospitals, outpatient surgical centers, and certain medical or dental practices to make their current standard charges publicly available, with a graduated implementation based on the practice's annual revenue (starting with practices earning over $50 million in 2024 and expanding to all practices by 2027). The bill introduces a new provision that prohibits medical or dental practices from initiating collection actions against patients if the practice is not in material compliance with the charge disclosure requirements. Patients or guarantors who believe a medical practice has improperly pursued debt collection can now bring legal action, and if successful, the court can order the medical practice to refund payments and pay additional penalties equal to the amount owed. The bill also amends existing statutes to require hospitals to certify compliance with charge disclosure requirements before initiating debt collection or referring accounts to collection agencies, adding an additional layer of protection for patients by ensuring transparency in medical billing practices. These changes aim to provide patients with more clarity about healthcare costs and protect them from potentially unfair collection practices.

Health and Social Services

https://www.revisor.mn.gov/bills/bill.php?b=House&f=HF1077&ssn=0&y=2025