Minnesota Senate Bill SF1503

Minnesota 2025-2026 Regular Session

• Introduced: 2/17/25
• Refer: 2/17/25
• Refer: 2/20/25
• Refer: 4/1/25

Caption

Facility fees prohibition for nonemergency services provided at provider-based clinics

Summary

SF1503 would prohibit hospitals and health systems from charging, billing, or collecting facility fees for nonemergency services provided at provider-based clinics, including telehealth services delivered through those clinics. It also separately bars facility fees for outpatient evaluation and management services regardless of where those services are provided. The bill defines key terms such as “facility fee” and “provider-based clinic,” and excludes certain sites such as rural health clinics and facilities providing only laboratory, imaging, pharmacy, therapy, or educational services. The bill also creates a new annual reporting requirement for hospitals and health systems operating hospitals. Beginning January 15, 2027, they must report facility-fee information to the commissioner of health, who must publish the data on a public website. The required report includes facility names and addresses, patient visit counts, fee amounts by payer type, and revenue information for the highest-volume and highest-revenue services. Enforcement would be available through the attorney general under the state’s unlawful business practice statute, and the commissioner of health could impose administrative penalties and audit records. The bill repeals the existing facility-fee disclosure law in section 62J.824 and replaces it with the new prohibition and reporting framework.

Impact

SF1503 would significantly change Minnesota law by moving from a disclosure-based approach to a direct prohibition on certain facility fees. It would add a new section to chapter 62J, repeal the current notice-and-posting statute for provider-based clinic facility fees, and create enforceable limits on billing practices for hospitals, health systems, and health care providers. The bill would also expand state oversight by requiring annual public reporting and authorizing audits and penalties, affecting hospital billing operations, patient charges, and transparency obligations across public and private insurance payers.

Sentiment

Based on the bill’s structure and committee movement, the measure appears to reflect a consumer-protection and cost-transparency policy goal, with support from multiple Senate authors and no recorded opposition in the provided materials. The bill was referred to health-related committees and amended, suggesting active legislative interest and refinement rather than immediate controversy in the available record. Overall, the tone of the proposal is regulatory and patient-focused, aimed at reducing surprise billing and out-of-pocket costs.

Contention

The main point of contention is likely the impact on hospital and health system revenue and billing autonomy, since the bill would eliminate a separate charge that hospitals say helps cover overhead and operational costs at provider-based clinics. Another likely issue is administrative burden, because hospitals would have to track, report, and retain detailed facility-fee data and submit it annually for public posting. The bill’s exclusions for rural health clinics and certain ancillary services suggest lawmakers were also balancing consumer protections against concerns about overbroad application to some health care settings.