HB 1139 2003
1	A bill to be entitled
2	An act relating to Collier County; providing for liens in
3	favor of a nonprofit corporation operating a charitable
4	hospital within the county; authorizing such liens on
5	judgments and settlements recovered from a tortfeasor
6	causing a patient's injury for reasonable charges owed to
7	a hospital for services provided to an injured person;
8	providing limitations; providing for determination by the
9	court of amount of recovery when a patient and hospital
10	cannot agree on the actual amount; providing for reduction
11	of the lien by any payments to the hospital by or on
12	behalf of a patient; providing for notification to the
13	hospital of the patient's intent to claim damages from the
14	tortfeasor; requiring the hospital to state its intent to
15	assert its lien within a prescribed time; providing a
16	waiver of the right for failure to state such intent;
17	providing that payment to the hospital pursuant to this
18	act fully satisfies the patient’s hospital charges and
19	bill; requiring that the hospital provide a patient with
20	reasonably necessary information; providing an effective
21	date.
22
23	Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
24
25	Section 1. (1) Each nonprofit corporation operating a
26	hospital that qualifies as a charitable hospital under section
27	501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code and that is located in
28	Collier County is entitled under this section to a lien, for all
29	reasonable hospital charges due and owing to the hospital for
30	medically necessary health care services provided to an injured
31	person, upon the proceeds of judgments and settlements recovered
32	from a tortfeasor who caused the injuries to the injured person
33	thus necessitating the health care services. As used in this
34	section, the term "patient" includes the legal representatives
35	of the injured person.
36	(2) The lien for all reasonable charges is limited to the
37	actual amount of all reasonable charges recovered by the patient
38	from a tortfeasor, less the hospital's pro rata share of costs
39	and attorney's fees incurred by the patient in recovering such
40	charges from the tortfeasor. In determining the hospital's pro
41	rata share of those costs and attorney's fees, the hospital must
42	have deducted from its recovery an amount equal to the
43	percentage of the judgment or settlement which is for costs and
44	attorney's fees.
45	(3) All reasonable charges must be calculated after
46	reduction for all amounts paid or at any time payable under any
47	third-party-payor contract or agreements between the hospital
48	and third-party payors or from any other private, public,
49	county, state, or federal insurance, contract, agreement,
50	benefit, program, or plan. If benefits are payable under
51	personal injury protection insurance as provided in chapter 627,
52	Florida Statutes, and the injured person has lost wages, 25
53	percent of the amount of the personal injury protection benefits
54	or the amount of lost wages, whichever is less, must be reserved
55	for paying the injured person's lost wages, and that amount
56	reserved for lost wages may not be used to pay reasonable
57	charges and is not subject to the lien created by this section.
58	All reasonable charges must be calculated after all adjustments,
59	reductions, and write-offs, in accordance with all third-party-
60	payor contracts and agreements between the hospital and third-
61	party payors, and in accordance with any other private, public,
62	county, state, or federal insurance contract, agreement,
63	benefit, program, or plan.
64	(4) If no amount is paid or at any time payable under any
65	third-party-payor contract or agreement between the hospital and
66	third-party payors, or from any other private, public, county,
67	state, or federal insurance, contract, agreement, benefit,
68	program, or plan, the amount of reasonable charges must be
69	determined under the third-party-payor contract or agreement
70	entered into between the hospital and a third-party payor which
71	provides for the lowest charges agreed to as acceptable by the
72	hospital, taking into account all reductions and write-offs
73	provided for in the third-party-payor contract or agreement in
74	effect at the time the charges were incurred.
75	(5) If the patient and hospital fail to agree on the
76	actual amount of the charges recovered from a tortfeasor, the
77	court in which the patient's claim against the tortfeasor was
78	filed, or, if never filed, the circuit court of the county in
79	which the cause of action arose, shall determine the actual
80	amount of the charges recovered from a tortfeasor. In
81	determining the actual amount of charges recovered,
82	consideration must be given to any offset in the amount of
83	settlement or judgment for any comparative negligence of the
84	patient, negligence of other tortfeasors, limitations in the
85	amount of liability insurance coverage available to the
86	tortfeasor, or any other mitigating factors determined equitable
87	and appropriate under the circumstances.
88	(6) The hospital lien recovery from the judgment or
89	settlement as calculated under this section must be reduced by
90	any payments to the hospital by the patient and by any payments
91	to the hospital by any other individual or entity making a
92	voluntary donation on behalf of the patient.
93	(7) A patient shall send the hospital, by certified or
94	registered mail, notification of his or her intent to claim
95	damages from the tortfeasor. If the claimant has filed suit
96	against the tortfeasor at the time such notice is sent, a copy
97	of the complaint against the tortfeasor shall be included with
98	the notice. The notice must include a statement that the
99	hospital waives any lien if it does not provide the patient or
100	patient's attorney with a statement asserting the lien and the
101	amount of all reasonable charges within 30 days following
102	receipt of the patient's notification to the hospital.
103	(8) Within 30 days after receipt of the patient's notice
104	of intent to claim damages from the tortfeasor, the hospital
105	must provide the patient or patient's attorney with a statement
106	asserting its lien. Failure of the hospital to provide this
107	statement to the patient or patient's attorney within the 30-day
108	period constitutes a waiver of any lien, and no lien exists if
109	the lien has been waived pursuant to this section.
110	(9) Payment to the hospital pursuant to this section fully
111	satisfies the patient's hospital charges and bill.
112	(10) A hospital shall cooperate with the patient and the
113	patient's attorney by producing at no charge to the patient all
114	reasonably necessary information to assist the patient in
115	proving his or her claim against the tortfeasor. Reasonably
116	necessary information includes, but is not limited to, hospital
117	bills and medical records.
118	Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2003, and
119	applies to all hospital charges incurred on or after that date.