Health facilities: hospitals; collection of debts; prohibit if hospital is not in compliance with price transparency laws. Creates new act. TIE BAR WITH: SB 0094'25

Added a new definition for 'Ancillary service' to describe items or services provided alongside primary hospital services.

Added a new definition for 'Chargemaster' to define the list of items and services with established charges maintained by a hospital.

Renumbered the 'Collection agency' definition from (d) to (e) and added a new subdivision (f) to reorganize the list of exclusions.

Added a new exclusion to the 'Collection agency' definition for persons whose principal business is making loans or servicing debt secured by real property deeds of trust.

The definition for 'Ancillary service' was completely removed from the bill.

The definition of 'Collection agency' was restructured to remove exclusions for horse racing, lottery, bingo, and sports betting licensees, and to add an exclusion for persons collecting debts in commercial credit transactions.

The definition of 'Consumer reporting agency' was expanded to explicitly include the federal definition from 15 USC 1681a(f) and clarify exclusions for check verification services.

The bill title and introductory text were updated to reflect the Senate's final version, removing the House substitute header.

Added a specific prohibition preventing hospitals from initiating or pursuing collection actions against patients for debts incurred when the hospital was not in compliance with price transparency laws.

Expanded the requirements for hospital price lists to include specific details like payer-specific negotiated charges, discounted cash prices, and various location-based applicability statements.

Introduced new definitions for 'Ancillary service,' 'De-identified maximum/minimum negotiated charge,' 'Discounted cash price,' 'Gross charge,' 'Shoppable service,' 'Standard charge,' and 'Service package' to clarify billing terms.

Created a civil remedy allowing patients to sue hospitals that violate the collection ban, with potential penalties requiring the hospital to refund the debt and pay the patient an equal amount.

Added a provision stating that the bill applies to critical access hospitals six months after the effective date.

Removed the original Senate introduction date and sponsor list, replacing them with the standard House substitute header and enactment language.