House Bill 2668 passed the House last month on a 114-7 vote after the Senate replaced its contents with what had been Senate Bill 251.

The measure would require health insurance plans to provide the following information to patients regarding the cost of medical care prior to pending procedures:

• The amount the patient is expected to pay, including any deductibles, coinsurance or copayment amounts.
• The amount the health care provider and institution will be paid; and
• Whether payments will be reduced or increased from agreed schedule amounts and why those payments are to be changed.

Sen. Jim Denning, an Overland Park Republican and the bill’s sponsor, said the measure was an effort to eliminate financial uncertainty for patients by providing them with the estimates and could help them avoid unexpected health care costs.

The “real-time” nature of the electronic requests and responses would utilize standards already set in place by the Accredited Standards Committee.

The bill would not require doctors or hospitals to relay the information to patients but would require insurance companies to provide the information to providers that seek it.

“This is not a mandate for physicians or hospitals to use the transaction set,” Denning said. “Certainly, if they have the software they would want to.”

Denning said the current phone-in method of acquiring health benefit predeterminations would still be available for practices that do not have the software capability for real-time queries.

If signed into law, the bill would become effective July 1, 2017 to allow time for insurance companies and practices to adapt to the law’s changes