HB216

HB216 changes how covered health-care providers deliver itemized bills, especially when a patient cannot be reached through an active online portal. It applies to itemized bills issued on or after September 1, 2025; earlier bills remain governed by the former law. Chapter 185’s provider definition covers authorized health-care facilities, including hospitals, but excludes federally qualified health centers. This is not a claim that every individual practitioner or every facility falls within that definition. Final act · Provider definition

A provider using a patient portal must determine, if feasible, whether the patient has an active profile. If the provider determines there is no active portal—or cannot determine whether there is one—it must mail, email or physically provide the itemized bill according to the patient’s chosen method. Posting a bill to a portal of unknown status is therefore not the fallback specified by the final law. Section 1, new Section 185.002(c-1)

The law expressly lists electronic delivery, mailed or common-carrier hard copies, and hard copies obtained by the patient or their designee at the provider’s business. Patients may request another itemized bill after its initial issuance through their chosen authorized method, but that right lasts only until the provider no longer must retain it under applicable retention laws or the provider’s billing-record retention policies and procedures. The act does not promise permanent access. Section 185.002(c)–(d)

The bill changes “alleged cost” to “alleged amount due” for each service or supply. The requirement to send an itemized bill with a payment request, and the deadline of 30 days after final third-party payment, already existed. Other retained provisions require plain-language descriptions, relevant third-party billing codes and amounts, and the amount allegedly owed by the patient; the provider may not pursue debt collection without complying with Section 185.002. Final act, Section 1 · Retained billing requirements

Licensing authorities retain disciplinary enforcement, but HB216 adds an exception for a provider that in good faith mails a hard copy when it is returned as undeliverable or lost, or when the address on file was outdated when mailed. That is an exception to the specified disciplinary provision—not a statement that the bill was received or that the underlying debt automatically becomes collectible. Section 2

The act also repeals the separate hospital-patient statement provisions in Section 311.002(b)–(d), including their discharge-related timing, notice and request rules. It does not repeal the entire hospital-billing section; for example, separate third-party-payer statement provisions remain. Section 3 · Hospital-billing section