Mid-Atlantic Health Law TOPICS

Effective October 1, 2025, the Maryland Fair Medical Debt Reporting Act prohibits health care facilities, practitioners, ambulance ser-vices, and entities primarily providing medical services, products, or devices from disclosing medical debt to consumer reporting agencies.

Also, contracts for the purchase or collec-tion of medical debt must include a provision prohibiting the disclosure of medical debt to consumer reporting agencies, and any contracts without this provision entered into on or after October 1, 2025, are void and unenforceable.

Additionally, Maryland hospitals are now re-quired to provide more generous reductions in out-of-pocket charges for patients eligible for reduced-cost care, based on income levels. Hospitals are also now prohibited from filing civil actions to collect debts under $500 or charging interest on debts for certain patients, and income-based payment plans must not ex-ceed 5% of the patient’s monthly household income. Creation of liens on owner-occupied residential property for medical debt are also prohibited, and complaints seeking money judgments must indicate whether the judg-ment is for medical debt.

Other recently enacted Maryland legislation allows hospitals to sell patient medical debt to governmental units, their contractors, or non-profit organizations, for the sole purpose of canceling the debt. The new law also sets con-ditions for such sales, including that the debt must be at least two years old and for patients below certain income thresholds. In addition, the law requires hospitals to dismiss pending collection actions on sold debt, and prohibits specified collection activities on sold debt.
 

K. Eva Kessler 
410-576-4251 • kkessler@gfrlaw.com

Barry F. Rosen
410-576-4224 • brosen@gfrlaw.com