Sec. 1. 22 MRSA §1718-A is enacted to read:

§1718-A.__Consumer information regarding health care practitioner

prices

Each health care practitioner, as defined in section 1711-C, subsection 1, paragraph F, shall maintain a price list of the most common services and procedures provided by the practitioner.__ For the purposes of this section, the most common services and procedures include all services and procedures that were provided by the practitioner 100 or more times in the preceding calendar year.__The practitioner shall post in a conspicuous place a statement about the availability of the price list and shall provide the price list upon request of a consumer.

Sec. 2. Effective date. Section 1 of this Act takes effect January 1, 2006.

SUMMARY

This bill requires health care practitioners to provide the same consumer price information required of hospitals and ambulatory surgical centers, effective January 1, 2006.