5 Things to Know about Surprise Billing during the COVID-19 Pandemic

The days of surprise medical billing may be numbered due to emerging legislation around the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Here’s some recent information on surprise medical billing: 

Hospitals taking federal funds to treat COVID-19 patients could be banned from balance billing patients, according to HHS stipulations. 

HHS worded the ban to prevent health systems from sending balance bills to COVID-19 patients, but in the finer details of the bill, HHS wrote that it “broadly views every patient as a possible case of COVID-19.” If hospitals sign the contract, they could be agreeing to halt all surprise medical bills for every patient during the pandemic, NPR reports.  

HHS made a statement to Kaiser Health News, saying, “The intent of the terms and conditions was to bar balance billing for actual or presumptive COVID-19. We are clarifying this in the terms and conditions.” 

Source: https://www.beckersasc.com/asc-coding-billing-and-collections/5-things-to-know-about-surprise-billing-during-the-covid-19-pandemic.html