Rodriguez

FACTS

A. The Payers’ Bill of Rights

A hospital’s duty to inform patients about anticipated pricing before they receive

treatment is defined by a series of statutes in the Health and Safety Code called the

Payers’ Bill of Rights. (§ 1339.50 et seq.) Enacted in 2003, the Payers’ Bill of Rights

recognizes the importance of pricing transparency and endeavors to strike a balance

between a consumer’s right to make informed choices and the burden of disclosure on

1 Unlabeled statutory citations refer to the Health and Safety Code. 2 hospitals. In this vein, the Payers’ Bill of Rights does not require hospitals to directly

disclose anticipated fees and charges to patients in all circumstances. Rather,

pretreatment disclosures are required only when an uninsured patient seeks a

nonemergency service. (§ 1339.585.)2

In all other circumstances, a hospital meets the Legislature’s standard of pricing

transparency by giving patients access to a “uniform schedule of . . . its gross billed

charge for a given service or item, regardless of payer type.” (§ 1339.51, subd. (b)(1).)

This schedule is called a “charge description master” or “chargemaster,” and should

contain a…