Health insurance carriers; hospital disclosure of contractual arrangements. (HB603)
Introduced By
Del. John O'Bannon (R-Richmond) with support from 9 copatrons, whose average partisan position is:
Progress
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Introduced |
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Passed Committee |
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Passed House |
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Passed Senate |
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Signed by Governor |
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Became Law |
Description
Hospitals; disclosure of contractual arrangements with health insurance carriers. Requires health insurance carriers, including health maintenance organizations and third-party administrators, annually to disclose to the State Health Commissioner the terms of its contracts with hospitals that establish the amount that the carrier is required to pay to the provider for health care services. The State Health Commissioner is required to compile the information and make it available to the public through an Internet website. Portions or aggregations of the information may be made available to the public if the Board of Health determines it may disclosed without compromising the identities of the carrier and hospital. The Commissioner shall negotiate and contract with a nonprofit organization, such as the Virginia Health Information, to compile, store, and make such information available to the public. Amends § 2.2-3705.6 (“Exclusions to application of chapter; proprietary records and trade secrets.”), § 32.1-276.5:1 (“Disclosures of contractual arrangements to be made publicly available.”), § 38.2-3407.15 (“Ethics and fairness in carrier business practices.”), of the Code of Virginia. View Full Text »
Comments
This is a totally positive and necessary step towards better health care in this country. Thank you for introducing this bill.
The stated purpose of this bill is laudable, but how wide is the loophole that prevents publication of data which would be "compromising the identities of the carrier and hospital"?
What does fisheries data have to do with health insurance carriers and disclosure? (5. Fisheries data that would permit identification of any person or vessel, except when required by court order as specified in § 28.2-204)
This bill will stop medical providers from over charging uninsured who want to pay a fair bill. It will also disclose (by comparison after the bill is passed) hospitals' inflated statements about how much charity they give. A hospital's statement about their annual charity to the community is completely fake.