North Carolina Treasurer Dale Folwell will try to stamp out surprise medical billing, according to the Carolina Journal.
His efforts come as the federal government and various states have worked on legislative solutions to protect patients from unexpected medical bills in emergency situations or after receiving out-of-network care at in-network hospitals.
In North Carolina, Mr. Folwell's surprise-billing approach would involve providing health plans a flat rate for major procedures, the newspaper reported.
Additionally, the treasurer seeks to ensure patients are not billed more than once for one service, a practice known as split billing.
"Many of our [State Health Plan] members get charged for a separate office visit by asking something in the course of a normal well visit," he told the Journal. "And there is a separate office visit charged to the State Health Plan for that little conversation."
The State Health Plan provides coverage to more than 700,000 North Carolina teachers, current and former lawmakers, state university and community college personnel, active and retired state employees, and their dependents.
Earlier this year, Mr. Folwell was in a dispute with hospitals over the plan's move toward reimbursement cuts, which would have come amid his goal to move the health plan and its members to a government-pricing model instead of a commercial model.
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