New medical debt reforms have been announced, which include holding providers and debt collectors accountable.
The Biden-Harris administration is targeting billing practices by providers and collectors with new reforms designed to ease the burden of patient medical debt.
As part of an initiative to combat high medical costs, Vice President Kamala Harris announced actions across four areas to help protect American families from harmful practices.
Central to the reform is holding providers and collectors accountable by opposing non-predatory payment plans and aggressive collection methods.
To better understand how to discourage these approaches, the Department of Health and Human Services will request data from more than 2,000 providers on medical bill collection practices, lawsuits against patients, financial assistance, financial product offerings, and third-party contracting or debt buying practices. That information will then be considered for grantmaking decisions, policy recommendations, and potential violations.
Additionally, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) will investigate credit reporting companies and debt collectors that violate patients' rights to uncover coercive credit reporting and determine whether unpaid medical billing data should be included in credit reports.
The CFPB previously released a bulletin in January reminding debt collectors and credit bureaus of their legal obligations following the implementation of the No Surprises Act.
Related: 3 Credit Agencies Change How Medical Collection Debt is Reported
Medical debt is a wide-ranging issue, with nearly one in 10 American adults (23 million people) owing more than $250 in unpaid bills as of December 2019.
How those bills are collected can be potentially damaging for patients, especially those who are most vulnerable.
"Our administration is also taking action against the bad actors—the folks who violate consumers' rights," Harris said. "To force people to pay medical debt, some debt collection companies harass consumers with dozens of phone calls a week."
Harris continued: "That sort of harassment and intimidation is unethical and often it is illegal. And that is why the CFPB has made it a priority to hold debt collectors accountable."
Jay Asser is the contributing editor for strategy at HealthLeaders.