The 2024-25 New York State (“NYS”) Budget introduces important changes that directly impact physicians and physician practices. These changes, effective Oct. 20, 2024, address several key areas, including billing practices, patient consent, and handling of credit card payments. Physicians and their practices must review and update their procedures to ensure compliance with these new legal requirements.

The new legislation impacts how physicians manage billing for their services. While the changes primarily target transparency of costs and patient consent, they also indirectly affect billing processes:

Separate Consent Forms:

Physicians must now separately secure the patients’ consent for treatment and consent for payment.

• This means that practices must create a distinct form specific to each purpose and comprehensively discuss issues related to costs as seriously as they discuss clinical concerns.

This ensures that patients are fully informed about the costs of their treatment before agreeing to pay. Physicians must ensure that discussions regarding the costs of treatment occur after services. To be clear, consent for payment can be obtained only after the treatment has been provided and after the costs have been discussed with the patient. This ensures that patients have a full understanding of their financial obligations before agreeing to pay.

Credit Card Payments:

The new budget also introduces specific regulations, via additions to the NYS General Business Law, regarding the use of credit cards for payment in physician practices:

• Restrictions on Pre-Authorization: Physicians are prohibited from requiring patients to preauthorize a credit card or keep one on file before delivering emergency or medically necessary services. This protects patients from unexpected charges and ensures that payment information is not collected prematurely.
• Patient Risk Notification: Physicians must inform patients about the risks associated with using credit cards to pay for medical services. This includes explaining that paying with a credit card may result in the loss of certain state and federal protections related to medical debt.

Conclusion

To summarize, the 2024-25 New York State Budget imposes new obligations on physicians and physician practices aimed at enhancing patient protections and ensuring greater transparency in billing and payment practices. Physicians must take steps to update their consent forms, billing procedures, and credit card policies to comply with these changes by the Oct. 20, 2024 deadline.