Relating to itemized billing for health care services and supplies provided by health care providers, the official text

H.B. No. 216

AN ACT

relating to itemized billing for health care services and supplies

provided by health care providers.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Section 185.002, Health and Safety Code, is

amended by amending Subsections (a), (c), and (d) and adding

Subsection (c-1) to read as follows:

(a) A health care provider that requests payment from a

patient after providing a health care service or related supply to

the patient shall submit with the request a written, itemized bill

of the alleged amount due for [cost of] each service and supply

provided to the patient during the patient's visit to the

provider. The provider must submit the itemized bill not later

than the 30th day after the provider receives a final payment on the

provided service or supply from a third party.

(c) A health care provider may issue the itemized bill:

(1) electronically, including through a patient

portal on the provider's Internet website, subject to Subsection

(c-1);

(2) through a hard copy delivered by mail or a common

carrier; or

(3) through a hard copy the patient or the patient's

designee obtains at the provider's place of business.

(c-1) A health care provider that issues an itemized bill to

a patient electronically through a patient portal under Subsection

(c) shall:

(1) determine whether the patient has an active

patient profile on the portal, if feasible; and

(2) mail, e-mail, or provide a physical copy of the

itemized bill to the patient, according to the patient's chosen

method of issuance, if the health care provider:

(A) determines the patient does not have an

active patient portal; or

(B) is unable to determine whether the patient

has an active patient portal.

(d) A patient is entitled to obtain from the health care

provider an itemized bill:

(1) subject to Subdivision (3), on request [at any

time] after the itemized bill is initially issued under Subsection

(a);

(2) through the patient's chosen method of issuance in

accordance with Subsection (c); and

(3) until the date the provider is no longer required

to retain an itemized bill under applicable record retention laws

or provider policies and procedures regarding retention of patient

billing information.

SECTION 2. Section 185.003, Health and Safety Code, is

amended to read as follows:

Sec. 185.003. DISCIPLINARY ACTION BY LICENSING

AUTHORITY. (a) The appropriate licensing authority shall take

disciplinary action against a health care [the] provider that

violates this chapter [for the violation] as if the provider

violated an applicable licensing law.

(b) Subsection (a) does not apply to a health care provider

that in good faith mails a hard copy of an itemized bill to a patient

if:

(1) the mailed copy is returned as undeliverable or

lost; or

(2) the address on file for the patient was not current

at the time the itemized bill was mailed.

SECTION 3. Sections 311.002(b), (c), and (d), Health and

Safety Code, are repealed.

SECTION 4. The changes in law made by this Act apply only to

an itemized bill issued on or after the effective date of this Act.

An itemized bill issued before the effective date of this Act is

governed by the law in effect on the date the itemized bill was

issued, and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.

SECTION 5. This Act takes effect September 1, 2025.

______________________________
______________________________

President of the Senate
Speaker of the House

I certify that H.B. No. 216 was passed by the House on May 10,

2025, by the following vote: Yeas 130, Nays 0, 2 present, not

voting; and that the House concurred in Senate amendments to H.B.

No. 216 on May 28, 2025, by the following vote: Yeas 130, Nays 6, 1

present, not voting.

______________________________

Chief Clerk of the House

I certify that H.B. No. 216 was passed by the Senate, with

amendments, on May 25, 2025, by the following vote: Yeas 31, Nays

0.

______________________________

Secretary of the Senate

APPROVED: __________________

Date

__________________

Governor