127455
. (a) Each emergency physician shall have a written policy
about when and under whose authority patient debt is advanced for
collection.
(b) Each emergency physician shall establish a written policy
defining standards and practices for the collection of debt, and
shall obtain a written agreement from any agency that collects
emergency physician receivables that it will adhere to the emergency
physician's standards and scope of practice. This agreement shall
require the affiliate, subsidiary, or external collection agency of
the physician that collects the debt to comply with the physician's
definition and application of a reasonable payment formula, as
defined in subdivision (k) of Section 127450. The policy shall not
conflict with other applicable laws and shall not be construed to
create a joint venture between the emergency physician and the
external entity, or otherwise to allow physician and surgeon
governance of an external entity that collects physician and surgeon
receivables. In determining the amount of a debt the emergency
physician may seek to recover from patients who are eligible under
the emergency physician's charity care policy or discount payment
policy, the emergency physician may consider only income and monetary
assets as limited by Section 127452.
(c) For a patient that lacks coverage, or for a patient that
provides information that he or she may be a patient with high
medical costs, the emergency physician, an assignee of the emergency
physician, or other owner of the patient debt, including a collection
agency, shall not report adverse information to a consumer credit
reporting agency or commence civil action against the patient for
nonpayment at any time prior to 150 days after initial billing.
(d) If a patient is attempting to qualify for eligibility under
the emergency physician's discount payment policy and is attempting
in good faith to settle an outstanding bill with the physician and
surgeon by negotiating an extended payment plan, the emergency
physician or his or her assignee, including a collection agency,
shall not report adverse information to a consumer credit agency or
commence a civil action.
(e) (1) The emergency physician or other assignee shall not, in
dealing with patients eligible under the emergency physician's
discount payment policies, use wage garnishments or liens on primary
residences as a means of collecting unpaid emergency physician bills.
(2) A collection agency or other assignee shall not, in dealing
with any patient under the emergency physician's discount payment
policy, use as a means of collecting unpaid emergency physician
bills, any of the following:
(A) A wage garnishment, except by order of the court upon noticed
motion, supported by a declaration filed by the movant identifying
the basis for its belief that the patient has the ability to make
payments on the judgment under the wage garnishment, that the court
shall consider in light of the size of the judgment and additional
information provided by the patient prior to, or at, the hearing
concerning the patient's ability to pay, including information about
probable future medical expenses based on the current condition of
the patient and other obligations of the patient.
(B) Notice or conduct a sale of the patient's primary residence
during the life of the patient or his or her spouse, or during the
period a child of the patient is a minor, or a child of the patient
who has attained the age of majority is unable to take care of
himself or herself and resides in the dwelling as his or her primary
residence. In the event a person protected by this paragraph owns
more than one dwelling, the primary residence shall be the dwelling
that is the patient's current homestead, as defined in Section
704.710 of the Code of Civil Procedure, or was the patient's
homestead at the time of the death of a person other than the patient
who is asserting the protections of this paragraph.
(3) This requirement does not preclude the emergency physician,
collection agency, or other assignee from pursuing reimbursement and
any enforcement remedy or remedies from third-party liability
settlements, tortfeasors, or other legally responsible parties.
(f) Extended payment plans offered by an emergency physician to
assist patients eligible under the emergency physician's discount
payment policy or any other policy adopted by the emergency physician
for assisting low-income patients with no insurance or high medical
costs in settling outstanding past due emergency physician bills,
shall be interest free. The emergency physician's extended payment
plan may be declared no longer operative after the patient's failure
to make all consecutive payments due during a 90-day period. Before
declaring the emergency physician's extended payment plan no longer
operative, the emergency physician, collection agency, or assignee
shall make a reasonable attempt to contact the patient by telephone,
if the telephone number is known, and to give notice in writing that
the extended payment plan may become inoperative, and of the
opportunity to renegotiate the extended payment plan. Prior to the
emergency physician's extended payment plan being declared
inoperative, the emergency physician, collection agency, or assignee
shall attempt to renegotiate the terms of the defaulted extended
payment plan, if requested by the patient. If the patient wishes to
renegotiate the terms of the defaulted extended payment plan but no
agreement can be reached on the amount of the payment, the emergency
physician or his or her assignee shall apply the reasonable payment
formula in subdivision (k) of Section 127450 to determine a monthly
payment amount for a subsequent extended payment plan. If the
reasonable payment formula would result in a payment of less than ten
dollars ($10) a month, the subsequent extended payment plan shall be
ten dollars ($10) per month. The emergency physician, collection
agency, or assignee shall not report adverse information to a
consumer credit reporting agency or commence a civil action against
the patient or responsible party for nonpayment prior to the time the
extended payment plan is declared to be no longer operative. If
after having defaulted on an extended payment plan the patient has
entered into another extended payment plan with payments in the
amount of either the reasonable payment formula or ten dollars ($10)
per month and the patient fails to make all consecutive payments due
during a 90-day period, that extended payment plan is inoperative.
For purposes of this section, the notice and telephone call to the
patient may be made to the last known telephone number and address of
the patient.
(g) For purposes of determining the reasonable payment formula in
subdivision (k) of Section 127450, the emergency physician or his or
her assignee may rely on the determination of family income and
essential living expenses made by the hospital at which emergency
care was provided. The emergency physician or his or her assignee, at
his or her discretion, may accept self-attestation of family income
and essential living expenses by a patient or a patient's legal
representative.
(h) Nothing in this section shall be construed to diminish or
eliminate any protections consumers have under existing federal and
state debt collection laws, or any other consumer protections
available under state or federal law. If the patient fails to make
all consecutive payments for 90 days and fails to renegotiate a
payment plan, this subdivision does not limit or alter the obligation
of the patient to make payments on the obligation owing to the
emergency physician pursuant to any contract or applicable statute
from the date that the extended payment plan is declared no longer
operative, as set forth in subdivision (f).