Strengthening Consumer Protections and Medical Debt Transparency Act

• Authority: United States Congress
• Parent authority: Federal government
• Jurisdiction: United States
• Collections: U.S. federal laws
• Most recent activity: Defunct
• Most recent activity date: 2025-01-03

Risk subdomain coverage

All other risk subdomains had no coverage in this document.

Risk Coverage Summary

This document does not address AI risks. It is a healthcare debt collection regulation focused on consumer protections, transparency requirements, and debt collection practices. No AI-related risks, systems, or technologies are mentioned or regulated.

Sector coverage

Good coverage — Comprehensive governance measures or mitigations with clear procedures relating to the sector are explicitly described.

• Health Care & Social Assistance

Minimal coverage — Brief mention but no specific mitigations, recommendations or governance measures relating to the sector are described.

• Finance & Insurance

All other sectors had no coverage in this document.

Sectors Summary

This legislation primarily governs the Health Care and Social Assistance sector, with specific focus on hospitals, physician practices, nursing facilities, and other healthcare providers. It also has secondary coverage of the Finance and Insurance sector through regulation of debt collectors and their practices in medical debt collection.

Legislative Status

Hard Law

Legislative Status Summary

This is a binding federal statute introduced in the U.S. Senate that would amend the Public Health Service Act with mandatory requirements, specific penalties, and enforcement mechanisms for medical debt collection practices.

Actors

Proposer

• Entity Types: AI_Governance_Actor
• Entities: United States Congress; Senator Murphy; Senator Braun
• Summary: The bill was introduced in the U.S. Senate by Mr. Murphy (for himself and Mr. Braun) on July 25, 2023, indicating these senators are the proposers of this legislation.

Target

• Entity Types: AI_Deployer
• Entities: Health care entities (including nonprofit, for-profit, critical access, and cancer hospitals; outpatient centers; physician group practices; physician staffing firms; nursing homes; skilled nursing facilities; long-term care facilities); Debt collectors acting on behalf of health care entities
• Summary: The legislation explicitly defines and targets 'health care entities' and their debt collectors, requiring them to comply with specific debt collection practices, reporting requirements, and prohibitions on extraordinary collection actions.

Enforcer

• Entity Types: AI_Governance_Actor
• Entities: Secretary of Health and Human Services; Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB); Federal courts
• Summary: The Secretary of HHS is designated to establish and maintain the database, develop definitions, and publish lists of non-compliant entities. The CFPB is tasked with supervision and reporting. Federal courts provide enforcement through the private right of action allowing patients to sue for damages.

Monitor

• Entity Types: AI_Governance_Actor
• Entities: Secretary of Health and Human Services; Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB)
• Summary: The Secretary is responsible for maintaining the public database and publishing annual lists of non-compliant entities. The CFPB is explicitly tasked with monitoring through its Supervision of Nondepository Covered Persons program and must submit biennial reports analyzing medical debt collections data.

AI Lifecycle Stages

Lifecycle stages covered by the documents, as defined in the OECD Framework for the Classification of AI Systems

No lifecycle stages identified.

AI Lifecycle Summary

This document does not address AI systems, AI models, or any AI lifecycle stages. It is healthcare debt collection legislation focused on consumer protections and transparency requirements for medical debt practices.

Technical Scope

Terms relating to technical scope that are mentioned or implicitly referenced in the document

No technical scope terms identified.

Technical Scope Summary

This document does not mention AI models, AI systems, or any AI-related technical concepts. It is focused exclusively on medical debt collection practices and consumer protections in healthcare billing.