New Connecticut legislation will require hospitals to disclose their trauma fees to the state, according to The Middletown Press.
Five things to know:
1. Trauma fees are the amounts that 12 Connecticut trauma centers charge patients when they are brought to the hospital by emergency medical services with serious injuries, according to the Press.
2. The fees, which are documented using billing code 068x, are sometimes covered by insurance and vary based on the care provided.
3. Under the new Connecticut legislation, the state's 12 trauma centers will be required disclose to the Connecticut Office of Health Strategy in 2020 the amounts they charge for these fees, according to the Press.
4. Connecticut Senate President Pro Tempore Martin Looney, D-New Haven, told the newspaper the legislation is an effort to see how much hospitals are charging and paves the way for potential regulation down the road.
5. Michele Sharp, vice president of Communications for the Connecticut Hospital Association, told the Press: "Hospitals will be providing trauma activation fee information to the state early next year, as the legislation directs. To prepare for that filing, the Connecticut Hospital Association is having conversations with the state; we need to determine the specific information that will be provided to ensure that it is useful and consistent across hospitals. Once we have had these conversations, hospitals will be better able to fulfill your request."
Read the full Press report here.
More articles on healthcare finance:
Final day for comments on implementing Texas surprise-billing law
Viewpoint: Median pricing model is fairest way to resolve surprise-billing disputes
Penn State Health now offers website estimates of medical procedures