bill adds federally qualified health centers to itemized billing law

The text as introduced · 509 words

89R7417 LRM-D

By: Hughes
S.B. No. 669

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to itemized billing for health care services and supplies

provided by health care providers.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Section 185.001(2), Health and Safety Code, is

amended to read as follows:

(2) "Health care provider" means an individual or [ a ]

facility licensed, certified, or otherwise authorized to provide

health care services or supplies in this state in the ordinary

course of business, including a physician, nurse practitioner,

physician assistant, or hospital [ , except the term does not

include a federally-qualified health center, as defined by 42

U.S.C. Section 1396d(l)(2)(B) ].

SECTION 2. Section 185.002, Health and Safety Code, is

amended by amending Subsections (c) and (d) and adding Subsection

(c-1) to read as follows:

(c) Except as provided by Subsection (c-1), a [ A ] health

care provider may issue the itemized bill :

(1) electronically, including through a patient

portal on the provider's Internet website ;

(2) through a hard copy delivered by mail or a common

carrier; or

(3) through a hard copy the patient or the patient's

designee obtains at the provider's place of business .

(c-1) A health care provider that issues an itemized bill to

a patient electronically through a patient portal under Subsection

(c)(1) shall:

(1) determine whether the patient has created a

patient profile on the portal; and

(2) if the health care provider determines that the

patient has not created a patient profile, mail a copy of the

itemized bill to the patient as described by Subsection (c)(2).

(d) A patient is entitled to obtain from the health care

provider an itemized bill :

(1) on request at any time after the itemized bill is

initially issued under Subsection (a) ; and

(2) through the patient's chosen method of issuance in

accordance with Subsection (c) .

SECTION 3. Section 185.003, Health and Safety Code, is

amended to read as follows:

Sec. 185.003. DISCIPLINARY ACTION BY LICENSING

AUTHORITY. The appropriate licensing authority shall take

disciplinary action against a health care [ the ] provider that

violates this chapter [ for the violation ] as if the provider

violated an applicable licensing law.

SECTION 4. Notwithstanding Section 185.001, Health and

Safety Code, as amended by this Act, a health care provider, as

defined by that section, that was not subject to the requirements of

Chapter 185, Health and Safety Code, before the effective date of

this Act is not required to comply with the requirements of that

chapter before January 1, 2026.

SECTION 5. Section 185.002, Health and Safety Code, as

amended by this Act, applies only to an itemized bill issued on or

after the effective date of this Act. An itemized bill issued before

the effective date of this Act is governed by the law in effect on

the date the itemized bill was issued, and the former law is

continued in effect for that purpose.

SECTION 6. This Act takes effect September 1, 2025.