Indiana House Bill 1237 - Hospital Charges Resulting from Medical Errors

First reading of House Bill 1237 was this morning (1-12-09). It was then referred to the Committee on Family, Children, and Human Affairs.

The bill seeks to prevent hospitals from knowingly billing patients for charges that are the consequence of medical errors.

The following is the current text of the bill:

IC-16-21-2-17
Sec. 17. (a) As used in this section, "harm" means the temporary or permanent impairment of a body function or structure that requires additional intervention for the patient, including an increase in monitoring of the patient's condition, a change in therapy, or active medical or surgical treatment.
(b) A hospital may not knowingly collect or attempt to collect from a patient, the patient's estate, or the patient's family the payment of a charge for medical services or products that are required as the result of a medical error or event if:
(1) the medical error or event resulted in significant harm or death to the patient;
(2) the medical error or event occurred in the hospital; and
(3) the medical error or event occurred as the result of the negligence or lack of reasonable care by:
(A) the hospital;
(B) an agent, a servant, or an employee of the hospital;
(C) an independent contractor working on behalf of the hospital; or
(D) a physician or other health care provider who has privileges to perform medical services at the hospital.

This is probably the bill that will generate the most debate and scrutiny from the hospital associations. I agree with the philosophy but the execution of the bill as currently written will be quite difficult. If this bill passes, it will be interesting to compare its final form with the current text.