Health care shared savings; incentive programs. (HB1001)

Introduced By

Del. Kathy Byron (R-Lynchburg) with support from co-patron Del. Michael Webert (R-Marshall)

Description

Health care shared savings; incentive programs. Requires health carriers to establish a comparable health care service incentive program under which savings are shared with a covered person who elects to receive a covered health care service from a lower-cost provider. Incentive payments shall be at least 50 percent of the saved cost compared to the average cost. Incentive payments are not required for savings of $25 or less. Programs are required to be approved by the Commissioner of Insurance. The measure also requires health carriers to make available an interactive mechanism on their website that enables a covered person to compare costs between providers in-network, calculate estimated out-of-pocket costs, and obtain quality data for those providers, to the extent available. The measure authorizes covered persons to obtain health care services from out-of-network providers if their costs are below the average of in-network providers. The measure requires health care facilities and practitioners to provide a covered person an estimate of charges prior to an admission, procedure, or service. All health care providers are required to post in a visible area notification of the patient's ability to obtain information in order to get an estimate of out-of-pocket costs from his health carrier and to compare providers. Read the Bill »

Status

01/23/2018: passed committee

History