Illinois Code § 5

§ 5.

Purpose; findings. (a) The purpose of this Act is to advance the prompt and accurate payment of health care services through fair and reasonable billing and collection practices of hospitals. (b) The General Assembly finds that: (1) Medical debts are the cause of an increasing number of bankruptcies in Illinois and are typically associated with severe financial hardship incurred by bankrupt persons and their families. (2) Patients, hospitals, and government bodies alike will benefit from clearly articulated standards regarding fair billing and collection practices for all Illinois hospitals. (3) Hospitals should employ responsible standards when collecting debt from their patients. (4) Patients should be provided sufficient billing information from hospitals to determine the accuracy of the bills for which they may be financially responsible. (5) Patients should be given a fair and reasonable opportunity to discuss and assess the accuracy of their bill. (6) Hospitals should provide patients with timely and meaningful access to any financial assistance available through the hospital and any public health insurance programs for which patients may be eligible to prevent patients from ending up with avoidable medical debt. Hospitals should assist patients who need financial assistance to access it. Patients who are deemed eligible for hospital financial assistance or public health insurance programs should not be improperly billed, steered into payment plans, or sent to collections. (7) Hospitals should offer patients the opportunity to enter into a reasonable payment plan for their hospital care. (8) Patients have an obligation to pay for the hospital services they receive subject to any discounts or free care for which they are eligible under Illinois law. (9) Hospitals have an obligation to screen uninsured patients before pursuing collection action. To promote the general welfare and to mitigate the negative impact that medical debt has on accessing and using needed health care, hospitals should not attempt to collect a debt from an uninsured patient without first adequately screening the patient for public health insurance programs and financial assistance available to the patient and assisting the patient in obtaining the hospital financial assistance for which they are eligible. (Source: P.A. 103-323, eff. 1-1-24.)