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2025 · Regular session · House bill
HB1314
For estimate requests made on or after September 1, 2025, HB1314 requires a covered health-care facility to email a requested estimate of its billed charges within five business days, replacing the prior 10-business-day deadline.
Official caption: Relating to price estimates and billing requirements for certain health care facilities.
Official report lists House author(s): Hickland, Harris Davila, Frank, Olcott. This does not identify sponsors or amendment drafters.
Bill explanation published · Version and amendment review scope is stated below · Individual amendment records may not be separately annotated.
Bill highlights
Selected points from the published explanation. Follow each point to its source-linked context; conditions and limits may matter.
- For estimate requests made on or after September 1, 2025, HB1314 requires a covered health-care facility to email a requested estimate of its billed charges within five business days, replacing the prior 10-business-day deadline.
- Covered facilities include licensed hospitals, ambulatory surgical centers and birthing centers, plus the specified freestanding emergency-care facilities.
- The estimate must explain how an eligible consumer may dispute final charges $400 or more above the estimate under the federal patient-provider dispute process.
- A facility violating Section 324.101 may not take or facilitate third-party collection action, report the consumer to a credit bureau or pursue an action against the consumer, and remains subject to licensing-agency enforcement.
What does it do?
For estimate requests made on or after September 1, 2025, HB1314 requires a covered health-care facility to email a requested estimate of its billed charges within five business days, replacing the prior 10-business-day deadline. The estimate is available on request before scheduling an elective inpatient admission or nonemergency outpatient surgery or other service. “Estimate” means a written statement of expected billed charges for a nonemergency elective service or procedure. Final law
Covered facilities include licensed hospitals, ambulatory surgical centers and birthing centers, plus the specified freestanding emergency-care facilities. This is not a rule requiring every individual physician’s office to provide the facility estimate. Billed charges are not necessarily the patient’s out-of-pocket cost: the facility must retain warnings about possible scheduling delays, changing medical circumstances, differing actual charges and insurance coverage, and advise consumers to contact their health plan. Health and Safety Code 324.001 and 324.101
The estimate must explain how an eligible consumer may dispute final charges $400 or more above the estimate under the federal patient-provider dispute process. That reference is not a universal $400 billing cap or a new right for every insured patient: the federal process concerns uninsured or self-pay patients and has additional conditions and filing deadlines. Federal rule, section 149.620 · CMS eligibility and dispute guide
A facility violating Section 324.101 may not take or facilitate third-party collection action, report the consumer to a credit bureau or pursue an action against the consumer, and remains subject to licensing-agency enforcement. The act also repeals the separate state requirement for a Department of State Health Services online consumer guide, formerly covering pricing explanations, insurance cautions and links to quality/price information. That repeal is distinct from the facility’s new estimate duties. Former Section 324.051, August 31, 2025
What changed along the way?
The introduced bill proposed a 24-hour deadline, required a valid medical order, and generally capped final charges at 5% above the estimate, subject to documented complications or a changed diagnosis. The House committee substitute removed that order condition, chose five business days, and replaced the 5% restriction with information about the federal $400-threshold dispute process. It also narrowed proposed collection language to third-party collection actions. The 24-hour deadline and 5% cap did not become law. Introduced · House substitute
There are no indexed floor amendments. House, engrossed and Senate committee operative texts match. A separate adopted correction resolution, HCR167, changed the estimate cross-reference from subsection (a) to subsection (d) during enrollment; that correction appears in the final text. Governor Abbott signed HB1314 June 20, 2025. Final passage was House 133–0, with one present but not voting, and Senate 31–0. Correction resolution · Engrossed · Senate committee · Version index · Amendment index · History
For the full amendment record, open the official amendment index.
Official bill versions
Compare the published text versions in the official text index. A change is not attributed to a specific amendment here without a verified record.
Who could benefit—and who could bear the costs?
Patients can receive facility estimates sooner and learn about a dispute route they might otherwise miss. Facilities must meet the shorter response deadline, provide the required information and face collection restrictions for violations. The estimate does not freeze the final bill or guarantee insurance payment; deleting the state guide mandate may also reduce one legally required source of consumer information.
All three Legislative Budget Board notes anticipate no significant state or local fiscal impact, assuming costs can be absorbed using existing resources. They do not quantify facility compliance costs, patient savings or a two-year/five-year total. Introduced note · House-substitute note · Engrossed note
Official sources
- Bill history and latest recorded action
- Bill versions, analyses and fiscal notes
- Action history and votes
- Amendment index
Catalog report retrieved 2026-10-25. Check the official record for corrections or later changes.