relative to consumer health care cost transparency.
What changed between versions
The entire hospital price transparency section (new RSA 151:12-d) was deleted, including the requirement for hospitals to maintain public transparency files, the good-faith estimate safe harbor protecting hospitals from penalties when estimates differ from final bills, and the annual compliance dashboard.
The HealthCost Consumer Portal section (new RSA 420-G:11-c) and the definitions section (new RSA 420-G:11-b) were deleted, removing the plan to build a state consumer portal linking to carrier estimators.
The APCD enhancement paragraphs (new III through VI in RSA 420-G:11-a) were deleted, removing provisions for ERISA plan opt-in data sharing, using APCD data to power the consumer portal, and expanding the APCD advisory group composition.
RSA 420-G:14-a was substantially rewritten. The commissioner's authority to request carrier information was broadened from the 'nongroup market' to all coverage history and health care financing/delivery. The reference to assessing 'alternative sources of funding for the nongroup subsidy' was removed.
A new paragraph IV was added to RSA 126:28 requiring that the complete health care data set be provided to the insurance department for regulation of insurance and health plans, with disclosure limited to HIPAA-compliant methods (45 C.F.R. parts 160, 162, 164).
A new paragraph V in RSA 420-G:14-a requires the commissioner to hold an annual public hearing on premium rates, evaluate claims costs, administrative loads, and carrier profits, identify factors contributing to cost increases, and analyze price variations using hospital discharge data, APCD data, Medicaid data, and other state health care data.
All native information and data collected under RSA 420-G:14-a is now designated confidential and exempt from public disclosure under RSA 91-A (the state's right-to-know law), a significant restriction not present in the introduced version.
Specific reporting deadlines (June 30 for data submission, December 31 for report filing) were removed from RSA 420-G:14-a, giving the commissioner discretion over timing and format instead of fixed statutory dates.
