Indiana House Bill 1447-Surprise Bill Update

May 7, 2021

Overview
In addition to federal efforts to regulate surprise billing, individual states like Indiana have taken their own steps to make a concerted effort to stymie this practice. APS has been monitoring these developments and has already published white papers on a variety of states, including Indiana. HB 1447 constitutes the latest development in Indiana’s legislative efforts to eliminate surprise billing.

Updates
In March 2020, Indiana legislators passed HB 1004 to eliminate surprise billing in Indiana and increase price transparency. The contents of that original bill are set to go into effect July 1st, 2021; however, a new bill (HB 1447) is in the works to amend elements of the original Surprise Bill legislation. Most notably, the new bill modifies the requirements related to good faith estimates (GFE) required by practitioners when providing medical services to patients. The new bill will not alter GFE requirements that already went into effect in July 2020, but it does revise the definition of “practitioner” moving forward and postpones the effective date of requirement for practitioners to provide GFEs from July 1st, 2021 to January 1st, 2022 (coinciding with the national implementation date of the No Surprises Act). There are also a number of smaller changes in wording and requirement standards that may have a slight impact on how providers will go about complying with the legislative requirements. In theory, these changes are intended to align the Indiana legislation more closely with the federal requirements set to take place in 2022 through the No Surprises Act. HB 1447 has already passed the Indiana House and is set to pass the Senate. APS will continue to monitor the progress of this bill and whether or not the Governor signs it into law before the impending effective deadline of July 1st, 2021.

As always, APS will continue to monitor developments and strive to keep our clients as informed as possible.