HB 4500

relating to unconscionable prices charged by health care providers
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1.  Subchapter E, Chapter 17, Business & Commerce
Code, is amended by adding Section 17.465 to read as follows:
Sec. 17.465.  UNCONSCIONABLE PRICE FOR HEALTH CARE
SERVICES.  (a) In this section:
(1)  "Emergency care" and "emergency facility" have the
meanings assigned by Section 17.464, as that section existed before
(2)  "Health care provider" means an individual or
facility licensed, certified, or otherwise authorized to provide
health care services in the ordinary course of business or
professional practice and includes a physician.
(3)  "Health care services" includes emergency care
provided in an emergency facility, as those terms are defined by
Section 17.464, as that section existed before September 1, 2025.
(b)  For purposes of Section 17.46(a), the term "false,
misleading, or deceptive acts or practices" includes a health care
(1)  provides health care services at an unconscionable
(2)  demands or charges an unconscionable price for or
in connection with health care services provided by the health care
(c)  The consumer protection division may not bring an action
under Section 17.47 for an act or practice described by Subsection
(b) if the price alleged to be unconscionable is less than 200
percent of the average charge for the same or substantially similar
health care services provided to other individuals by similar
health care providers located in the same county or nearest county
in which the health care provider is located, as applicable,
according to data collected by the Department of State Health
Services under Chapter 108, Health and Safety Code, and made
available to the division, except as provided by Subsection (d).  If
the health care services are emergency care provided in an
emergency facility, the consumer protection division may not use
data that includes prices for care provided in an urgent care
setting or physician practice to establish the division's authority
to investigate and pursue an action under this subchapter.
(d)  If the attorney general determines that the consumer
protection division is unable to obtain the charge data described
by Subsection (c), the attorney general may adopt rules designating
another source of charge data for use by the division in
establishing the average charge for health care services provided
by health care providers for purposes of Subsection (c).
(e)  In an action brought under Section 17.47 to enforce this
section, the consumer protection division may request, and the
trier of fact may award the recovery of:
(1)  reasonable attorney's fees and court costs; and
(2)  the reasonable expenses incurred by the division
in obtaining any remedy available under Section 17.47, including
the cost of investigation, witness fees, and deposition expenses.
(f)  This section does not create a private cause of action
for a false, misleading, or deceptive act or practice described by
SECTION 2.  Section 17.464, Business & Commerce Code, is
SECTION 3.  The changes in law made by this Act apply only to
health care services provided on or after the effective date of this
Act. Health care services provided before the effective date of
this Act are governed by the law as it existed immediately before
the effective date of this Act, and that law is continued in effect
SECTION 4.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2025.