Health care services; estimate of cost of any procedure, etc.

Health care services; estimate of cost. Requires every hospital and every practitioner licensed by the Board of Medicine to, upon request and within three days of the receipt of such request, provide an estimate of the cost any procedure, test, or service that may be performed by the hospital or practitioner. Currently, hospitals are required to provide information about the payment amount for which a patient may be responsible to a patient scheduled to receive an elective procedure, test, or service upon request. Health care practitioners licensed by the Board of Medicine are not currently required to provide such estimates. The bill also requires health care practitioners licensed by the Board of Medicine to provide written information about a person's ability to request an estimate of the cost of any procedure, test, or service that may be performed by the practitioner and to post such information in public areas of the location at which the practitioner provides services and on any website maintained by the practitioner.