Bill Text: NY A08676 | 2021-2022 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Requires the commissioner of health, in conjunction with the superintendent of financial services, to promulgate rules and regulations requiring that any increase in a bill from a hospital or health system or health care provider shall be sent to a patient no later than ninety days after the original bill was paid in full by such patient and good cause be shown for such increase, unless such increase is the result of any action by such patient.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2022-01-10 - referred to health [A08676 Detail]

Download: New_York-2021-A08676-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                          8676

                   IN ASSEMBLY

                                    January 10, 2022
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by M. of A. GUNTHER -- read once and referred to the Commit-
          tee on Health

        AN ACT to amend the public health law,  in  relation  to  requiring  the
          commissioner  of health to promulgate rules and regulations related to
          the timeframe for increases to patients' bills

          The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and  Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:

     1    Section 1. Section 206 of the public health law is amended by adding a
     2  new subdivision 32 to read as follows:
     3    32. (a) The commissioner shall, in conjunction with the superintendent
     4  of  financial  services, promulgate rules and regulations providing that
     5  no patient shall be held responsible for any amounts for which a patient
     6  would otherwise be liable as a result of an increase in any bill from  a
     7  health  insurance  company,  hospital  or  health  system or health care
     8  provider after the date on which all amounts due under the original bill
     9  were paid in full unless  the  health  insurance  company,  hospital  or
    10  health  system  or  health  care  provider, as applicable, can show good
    11  cause for such increase and sends notice of such increase to the patient
    12  no later than ninety days after the amount due by  the  patient  in  the
    13  original  bill  was paid in full.  No health insurance company, hospital
    14  or health system or health care provider may send notice to a patient of
    15  any increase in a bill unless such health insurance company, hospital or
    16  health system or health care provider sends such  notice  prior  to  the
    17  expiration  of such ninety day period and can show the good cause reason
    18  for such increase. The foregoing restrictions in this subdivision  shall
    19  not  apply  to  an  increase  which  is  the result of an action by such
    20  patient warranting such increase.
    21    (b) For purposes of this subdivision:
    22    (i) "patient" shall mean the individual receiving medical services  or
    23  the individual responsible for paying the bill on behalf of the individ-
    24  ual receiving medical services; and
    25    (ii)  "good  cause"  shall mean a clerical error, typographical error,
    26  scrivener's error or computer error, unless a  pattern  of  such  errors
    27  exists,  fraudulent  billing  is  alleged, or such error is due to gross

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD13160-04-1
        A. 8676                             2

     1  negligence, recklessness, willful  malfeasance  or  other  action  taken
     2  which is not in good faith.
     3    (c)  This subdivision shall not apply to health care services, includ-
     4  ing emergency services, where physician fees are subject to schedules or
     5  other monetary limitations under any other law, including  the  workers'
     6  compensation  law  and article fifty-one of the insurance law, and shall
     7  not preempt any such law.
     8    (d) The rules and  regulations  required  by  this  subdivision  shall
     9  include, at a minimum:
    10    (i)  a requirement that an explanation for any increase in a patient's
    11  bill shall be provided in plain language in  conspicuous    twelve-point
    12  bold face type and shall be available in the top six languages spoken in
    13  the hospital's service area; and
    14    (ii)  a  process  to  determine responsibility for amounts for which a
    15  patient is not responsible by reason of this subdivision.
    16    § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.