Prince George's County - Hospitals - Sale of Patient Debt PG 402-25

2025 Regular Session

MD hospitals may sell patient debt to Prince George’s County solely to cancel it; patients owe nothing, contracts must state sole purpose, and payments offset uncompensated care.

Withdrawn by Sponsor

Main purpose

Authorize hospitals to sell patient medical debt to Prince George’s County when the County’s sole purpose in acquiring the debt is to cancel it, and to set related reporting and fiscal-treatment rules. The change creates a narrow exception to an existing Maryland prohibition on hospitals selling patient debt.

Key provisions

Exception to debt‑sale ban: A hospital may sell debt owed by a patient for hospital services to Prince George’s County solely for the purpose of canceling that debt. (Amends Health — General §19‑214.2.)

Contract requirement: Any contract between a hospital and Prince George’s County must state explicitly that the sole purpose of the sale is debt cancellation.

Patient protections: A patient is not responsible to the hospital or to Prince George’s County for any amount of debt that is sold, nor for any interest, fees, or costs associated with that debt or the sale.

HSCRC accounting: The Health Services Cost Review Commission (HSCRC) must treat payments to hospitals made under this mechanism as an offset to hospitals’ uncompensated care amounts when hospitals report uncompensated care.

County notification: If Prince George’s County cancels a patient’s debt under this authority, the county must notify the patient that the debt has been canceled.

Other statewide rules remain in place: Hospitals must continue to submit annual debt‑collection policies and reports to HSCRC and comply with existing consumer‑protection timelines (e.g., 180‑day wait before reporting/collection actions).

Who is affected

Patients with hospital bills in Prince George’s County — may have qualifying medical debt canceled and will not owe amounts sold under this program.

Hospitals in Maryland subject to HSCRC reporting — may sell eligible debt to the County and will have payments treated as offsets to uncompensated care.

Prince George’s County government — may incur expenditures to purchase (and cancel) patient debt.

HSCRC and state rate setting — may reflect changes in uncompensated care reporting; any statewide rate impacts are indeterminate but expected to be minimal.

Fiscal and policy impacts

State: HSCRC can implement the reporting/treatment requirement with existing resources. Any net effect on statewide uncompensated care totals and hospital rates is indeterminate but anticipated to be small.

Local (Prince George’s County): Expenditures will increase to the extent the County purchases patient debt. The total amount of debt that may be sold/purchased is not reliably estimable from the bill text.

Patients: Reduced medical‑debt burden for those whose debts are purchased and canceled.

Procedural/timeline notes

Introduced/first read (Maryland): January 16, 2025 (House).

Effective date in bill text: October 1, 2025.

The provision modifies an existing statutory scheme that otherwise prohibits hospitals from selling debt, creating a county‑specific exception limited to debt purchases intended solely for cancellation.

If you’d like, I can:
- Draft a plain‑language flyer for county residents explaining eligibility and how they would be notified; or
- Prepare a short analysis estimating potential fiscal exposure to Prince George’s County based on sample hospital bad‑debt figures.

Bill