The Board of Supervisors is expected to have a final vote to decide whether hospitals should inform the county at least a month in advance before starting their debt collection process.is considering a new medical debt ordinance that aims to ensure people with outstanding medical bills are getting financial assistance while mandating hospitals located in the unincorporated areas of the county to be transparent about debt collection.
But critics worry, while the cost of implementing could vary from hospital to hospital, reporting the data for individual patients would require more than just paperwork. “It's data that they already use for billing,” Mahajan said. “It's data they already use for debt collection, and we're just asking for a copy of it sent to us as well.”