HOUSE BILL 435
By Jones J
SENATE BILL 403
By Lamar
SB0403
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AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 9,
Chapter 8; Title 16; Title 18; Title 20; Title 21; Title
27; Title 28; Title 29; Title 33; Title 45; Title 47;
Title 63; Title 68 and Title 71, relative to healthcare
costs.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE:
SECTION 1. Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 68, Chapter 11, Part 2, is amended by
adding the following as a new section:
(a) As used in this section, "uncompensated care" means healthcare services
rendered by a facility for which no payment was received from the patient or on behalf of
the patient.
(b) A facility that accepts public funds as compensation for losses due to
providing uncompensated care shall ensure that an amount of outstanding patient debt
equal to the amount of public funds accepted is designated as satisfied, and the facility
shall not seek a judgment or take other legal action to collect from the debtor any portion
of such debt that is so designated.
(c) A facility that accepts public funds pursuant to subsection (b) shall notify the
patient whose debt has been satisfied. Such notification must include the amount of
satisfied patient debt, and, if applicable, instructions on how to pay the remaining
balance of the patient's debt.
(d) The health facilities commission shall promulgate rules to establish a process
for facilities that accept public funds to use to offset uncompensated care losses to
ensure that the facility maximizes the number of patients with outstanding debt that is
designated as satisfied pursuant to subsection (b). The rules must be promulgated in
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accordance with the Uniform Administrative Procedures Act, compiled in title 4, chapter
5.
(e) A facility that violates this section is subject to sanctions by the health
facilities commission.
SECTION 2. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 68-1-109, is amended by adding the
following as a new subsection:
( ) The department of health, in collaboration with the division of TennCare,
shall submit an annual report to the general assembly no later than January 15, 2026,
and by each January 15 thereafter, that includes, but is not limited to, a report on all
expenditures in the previous calendar year for virtual disproportionate share hospital
(DSH) payments and for payments to hospitals for uncompensated care to charity
patients with all of those payments being made in accordance with, and as those
categories of payments are defined in, the TennCare 1115 demonstration waiver from
the federal centers for medicare and medicaid services.
SECTION 3. This act takes effect upon becoming a law, the public welfare requiring it.