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STATE OF OKLAHOMA
1st Session of the 60th Legislature (2025)
SENATE BILL 519 By: Boren
AS INTRODUCED
An Act relating to hospitals; defining terms;
prohibiting hospitals from taking certain collection
actions against patients; providing exc eption;
providing for codification; and providing an
effective date.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA:
SECTION 1. NEW LAW A new section of law to be codified
in the Oklahoma Statutes as Section 1 -725.11 of Title 63, unless
there is created a duplication in numbering, reads as follows:
As used in this act:
1. “Collection action” means any of the following actions taken
with respect to a debt for items and services that were purchased
from, or provided to a patient by, a hospital on a date during which
the hospital was not in material compliance with hospital price
transparency laws:
a. attempting to collect a debt from a patient or patient
guarantor by referring the debt, directly or
indirectly, to a debt collector, collection agency, or
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other third party retained by or on behal f of the
hospital,
b. suing the patient or patient guarantor or enforcing an
arbitration or mediation clause in any hospital
documents, including contracts, agreements,
statements, or bills, or
c. directly or indirectly causing a report to be made to
a consumer reporting agency;
2. a. “Collection agency” means any:
(1) person who engages in a business, the principal
purpose of which is the collection of debts, or
(2) person who:
(a) regularly collects or attempts to collect,
directly or indirectly, debts ow ed or due or
asserted to be owed or due to another,
(b) takes assignment of debts for collection
purposes, or
(c) directly or indirectly solicits for
collection debts owed or due or asserted to
be owed or due to another.
b. Collection agency does not include:
(1) any officer or employee of a creditor while, in
the name of the creditor, collect ing debts for
such creditor,
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(2) any person while acting as a collection agency
for another person, both of whom are related by
common ownership or affiliated by corpo rate
control, if the person acting as a collection
agency does so only for creditors to whom it is
so related or affiliated and if the principal
business of the person is not the collection of
debts,
(3) any officer or employee of the United States or
any state to the extent that collecting or
attempting to collect any debt is in the
performance of the officer ’s or employee’s
official duties,
(4) any person while serving or attemp ting to serve
legal process on any other person in connection
with the judicial enforcement of any debt,
(5) any person collecting or attempting to collect
any debt owed or due or asserted to be owed or
due to another to the extent that:
(a) the activity is incidental to a bona fide
fiduciary obligation or a bona fide escrow
arrangement,
(b) the activity concerns a debt that was
extended by the person,
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(c) the activity concerns a debt that was not in
default at the time it was obtained by the
person, or
(d) the activity concerns a debt obtained by the
person as a secured party in a c ommercial
credit transaction involving the creditor,
or
(6) any person whose principal business is the making
of loans or the servicing of debt not in default
and who acts as a loan correspondent, seller and
servicer for the owner, or holder of a debt that
is secured by a deed of trust on real property,
whether or not the debt is also secured by an
interest in personal property.
c. Notwithstanding the provisions of subparagraph b of
this paragraph, collection agency includes any person
who, in the process o f collecting the person ’s own
debts, uses another name that would indicate that a
third person is collecting or attempting to collect
such debts;
3. a. “Debt” means any obligation or alleged obligation of a
consumer to pay money arising out of a transaction,
whether or not the obligation has been reduced to
judgment.
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b. Debt does not include a debt for business, investment,
commercial, or agricultural purposes or a debt
incurred by a business;
4. “Debt collector” means any person employed or engaged by a
collection agency to perform the collection of debts owed or due or
asserted to be owed or due to another;
5. “Hospital” means, consistent with 45 C.F.R., Section 180.20,
a hospital licensed by the State Department of Health under Section
1-702 of Title 63 of the Oklahoma Statutes; and
6. “Items and services” or “items or services” means items and
services as defined in 45 C.F.R., Section 180.20.
SECTION 2. NEW LAW A new section of law to be codified
in the Oklahoma Statutes as Sect ion 1-725.12 of Title 63, unless
there is created a duplication in numbering, reads as follows:
A. On and after the effective date of this act, no debt
collector shall initiate or pursue a collection action against the
patient or patient guarantor for a debt owed for the items or
services purchased from , or provided to a patient by , the hospital
to a collection agency.
B. Nothing in this act:
1. Prohibits a hospital from billin g a patient, patient
guarantor, or third-party payer, including a health insur er, for
items or services provided to the patient; or
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2. Requires a hospital to refund any payment made to the
hospital for items or services provided to the patient, so long as
no collection action is taken in violation of this act.
SECTION 3. This act shall become effective November 1, 2025 .
60-1-1071 CAD 1/13/2025 9:03:34 AM