DOH Guidance: Patient Financial Consent Requirement Scheduled for October 20 Implementation “On Hold”

DOH Guidance: Patient Financial Consent Requirement Scheduled for October 20 Implementation “On Hold”

Thank you to the many physicians and practice staff who have used this link Revise Requirement to Obtain Patient Consent to Bill After Services Delivered (p2a.co) to send communications to DOH, the Governor’s office and state legislators highlighting the implementation challenges of well-intended, but serious problematic, provisions adopted in the 2024-25 New York State Budget related to the collection of payments from patients.   We have heard from several state legislators who have been receiving letters from their constituent physicians.

This weekend, the New York State Department of Health issued a guidance that it had received “outreach and questions from a variety of stakeholders” about the meaning of one the new provisions that requires a health care provider to obtain separate consent from a patient for payment.  As a result, “the implementation of this provision is on hold until further guidance is released”.

Please remain alert for further updates as MSSNY together with specialty societies and numerous other allies continue to advocate for legislation that would revise this requirement to ensure it is more consonant with medical office workflow and laws that require disclosure of charges prior to the delivery of patient medical services.