Rhode Island § 6-60-4 - Medical Debt Reporting

§ 6-60-4. Medical debt collectors.

(a) A creditor, debt collector, or collection agency shall not use any false, deceptive, or misleading information or means when attempting to collect a medical debt or in an attempt to obtain information about a consumer in relation to collection of a medical debt by making a false, deceptive, or misleading representation that the medical debt will be included in a consumer credit report or factored into a credit score.

(b) Any correspondence from a creditor, debt collector, or collection agency to a consumer shall include the following language: “The State of Rhode Island general laws prohibit credit bureaus from reporting medical debt or factoring medical debt into a credit score.”

(c) No creditor or debt collector that knows or should have known about an internal review, external review, or other appeal of a health insurance decision that is pending within sixty (60) days of the consumer’s receipt of the financial statement shall:

(1) Provide information relative to unpaid charges for healthcare services to a consumer reporting agency;

(2) Communicate with the consumer regarding the unpaid charges for healthcare services for the purpose of seeking to collect the charges; or

(3) Initiate a lawsuit or arbitration proceeding against the consumer relative to unpaid charges for healthcare services.

(d) If a medical debt has already been reported to a consumer reporting agency and the creditor or debt collector who reported the information learns of an internal review, external review, or other appeal of a health insurance decision that is pending within sixty (60) days of the consumer’s receipt of the financial statement, such creditor or collector shall instruct the consumer reporting agency to delete the information about the debt.