Hospitals; financial assistance for uninsured patient, payment plans.

Hospitals; financial assistance; payment plans. Requires hospitals to screen every uninsured patient, defined inthe bill, to determine the patient's household income and whetherthe individual is eligible for financial assistance under the hospital'sfinancial assistance plan; provides that no hospital shall requireany uninsured patient who is eligible for financial assistance underthe hospital's financial assistance plan and determined to have ahousehold income that is less than or equal to 200 percent of the federal poverty level to pay any amount for emergency medical care;requires every hospital to make a payment plan available for everyuninsured patient who is determined to be eligible for financialassistance pursuant to the hospital's financial assistance plan andcaps such payment at four percent of the patient's monthly householdincome; prohibits hospitals from engaging in extraordinary collection actions against an uninsured patient who owes a debt for medicalservices or the estate of a deceased person; and requires hospitalsto report data and information regarding charity care, discountedcare, and financial assistance provided under the hospital's financialassistance policy to the nonprofit organization with which the Departmentof Health has entered into a contract for the compilation, storage,analysis, and evaluation of data.