A Senate subcommittee studying Senate Bill 251, the Real-Time Explanation of Health Care Benefits Act, recommended the bills passage in the committee on Financial Institutions and Insurance.
The subcommittee of Senators Jeff Longbine, an Emporia Republican, Tom Hawk, a Manhattan Democrat, and Vicki Schmidt, a Topeka Republican submitted a balloon amendment along with their committee report recommending its passage.
The bill would require insurance companies to provide patients and physicians, in an electronic form, information on the predicted amounts of coverage and costs prior to a specified procedure.
The amendment modifies the binding nature of the predeterminations for insurance companies providing instead for a good faith estimate. It also fixes the definitions of physician and health plan within the bill and delays the effective date of the Act from Jan. 1, 2015 to Jan. 1, 2017.
Senator Jim Denning, an Overland Park Republican, and the sponsor of the bill said he was pleased with the proposal of the subcommittee. He said that the amendments addressed the insurance industries concerns regarding the binding nature of the predeterminations.
“The subcommittee did some heavy lifting,” said Senator Jim Denning, an Overland Park Republican and the sponsor of the bill. “I appreciate what the subcommittee did with the bill. It’s 100 percent better coming out of than it was before.”
The report included a survey of Kansas City area health providers from the Greater Kansas City Medical Managers Association. The survey polled 82 health providers, 79 of whom say it is very important to allow for a real time response to predetermination requests. Sixty-one respondents said they are willing to pay an electronic transaction fee in the process.
The full committee took no action on the bill.
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