Health matters.

The bill text was reformatted from an Enrolled Act to a Senate Bill, including updated session dates and committee referral history.

The layout and numbering of the bill sections were reorganized to match standard Senate Bill formatting rather than the Enrolled Act format.

A minor text correction was made in the definition of 'ambulatory outpatient surgical center,' changing a duplicate label '(C)' to '(D)' regarding staff admission requirements.

Added new authority for the Attorney General to suspend a hospital's ability to collect medical debt if the hospital is found noncompliant with specific statutes.

Created a new requirement for the Indiana Department of Health to review hospital compliance with medical debt laws on a semiannual basis and notify the hospital of the results.

Refined the definition of 'ambulatory outpatient surgical center' to explicitly require that surgical procedures be performed by physicians, dentists, or podiatrists who have hospital privileges and are admitted to the center's open staff.

Established a new effective date of July 1, 2026, for the new medical debt collection restrictions and related code sections.

Removed the requirement that surgical procedures must be performed only by a physician, dentist, or podiatrist, allowing other qualified providers to perform surgeries.

Changed the Attorney General's authority to suspend debt collection to apply only after a 'final determination' of noncompliance, adding a procedural step.

Added a requirement that the review committee for surgical centers must have no financial connections with the center.

Updated the definition of 'ambulatory outpatient surgical center' to include the new committee independence requirement and added a requirement for adequate medical records.