The Financial Institution Division (FID) of Nevada’s Department of Business and Industry will be holding a virtual workshop on Tuesday, October 26 at 1pm ET to solicit comments from interested persons about regulations related to SB248, a new medical debt collection law that went into effect earlier this year.
The FID has released a set of draft regulations to help implement SB248 — which were created at the behest of a federal judge who is presiding over a lawsuit filed by a number of companies in the accounts receivable management industry against the state to try and block the law’s enactment — and is seeking comments on those proposed regulations. The industry is still waiting for the judge to rule on a motion for a temporary restraining order that would block the law from remaining in effect until the outcome of the lawsuit is determined.
Companies collecting medical debt in Nevada have a host of new requirements under the law, which went into effect on July 1. Collection agencies are also barred from initiating civil actions of the amount of the medical debt is less than $10,000.
Under the proposed regulations, the FID would define “action to collect a medical debt” as well as provide additional details on the written notification that must be sent to consumers when attempting to collect on a medical debt. All letters must be approved by the FID Commissioner before being used by a collection agency.
The workshop on October 26 is scheduled to last three hours.