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New Jersey Society of Interventional Pain Physicians

An Affiliate of the American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians

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advocacy

The New Jersey Society of Interventional Pain Physicians is the New Jersey branch of the American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians. The mission of our Society is to educate physicians in the development of safe, cost effective, high quality interventional pain management techniques and safe office practices, to advocate for and facilitate legislation which will promote access to high quality care for New Jersey citizens, and to educate the public, state and other health officials, insurance companies and allied health personal on what treatments are available to alleviate pain and eliminate the problems associated with it.

New Jersey State Legislative Update

    Laurie Clark –Legislative Counsel to NJSIPP

    July 24, 2024

    An incredibly active legislative “budget” session ended on June 28.

     Highlights below:


    • The Fiscal Year 2025 Budget Bills, A4700/S2025 were signed into law on June 28. The budget appropriates $56,635,803,000 in state funds and $27,501,993,840. 
    • A3860/S2795 – Medical Billing Requirements in Senate Commerce Committee
    • No Movement on “Scope of Practice” bills
    • New Jersey State Board of Medical Examiners has proposed an overhaul of the “medical chaperone system”.

    Medical Debt Bill Package Split – A3861/S2806 Signed into law

    After a whirlwind budget session, months of work on the “Medical Debt Relief” package ended in A3860/S2795 which establishes certain medical billing practices remaining in the Senate Commerce Committee chaired by Senator Nellie Pou.

    As previously reported, through the diligent work of the Access to Care Coalition and the New Jersey Hospital Association clarifying amendments were adopted which alleviated many of the burdens contained in the original bill. However, I am very pleased that we have the opportunity to continue our work on this.

    The “Louisa Carman Medical Debt Relief Act” A3861/S2806 was signed on July 22. The language in the new law is as follows:

    The law, specifically, prohibits a medical creditor or medical debt collector from:

    1. reporting a patient’s medical debt to any consumer reporting agency for health care services performed on or after the effective date of the bill;
    2. making a consumer report containing a patient’s paid medical debt or a medical debt worth less than $500, regardless of the date the medical debt was incurred;
    3. charging an interest rate on a medical debt of more than three percent per year;
    4. garnishing the wages of a patient with an annual income of less than 600 percent of the federal poverty level to collect medical debt owed by that patient; or
    5. engaging in any collection actions against a patient who accepts and complies with the terms of a reasonable payment plan.

    The bill also provides certain protections to patients with medical debt from collection actions by medical creditors and medical debt collectors and provides that any portion of a medical debt furnished to a consumer reporting agency in violation of the bill will be void

    Lastly, the bill provides that the Office of the Attorney General is the sole and exclusive authority to enforce violations of the bill.  A medical creditor or medical debt collector that violates a provision of the bill may be subject to a civil penalty and may be ordered by the Attorney General to restore to interested parties any moneys or property acquired by means in violation of the bill.  The bill clarifies that nothing in the bill provides the basis for a private right of action arising solely from a violation of the bill.

    The law applies to all claims occurring on or after July 22 with respect to the credit and collections provisions. More regulations will be proposed over the next year. More to come…

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    New Jersey Society of Interventional Pain Physicians


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