Valued Voice

On April 2, Governor Tony Evers signed Senate Bill 822, the “prompt payment discount” legislation, making it 2025 Wisconsin Act 147. 

This bipartisan legislation clarifies the ability for Wisconsin hospitals and other health care providers to offer prompt-pay discounts to patients on out-of-pocket expenses for scheduled medical care. This is a common-sense approach to reduce overall costs for both patients and providers by recognizing that a health care provider can discount the amount that is owed by a patient when the patient pays their bill promptly. The provider would offer the discount to encourage the patient to pay the bill timely and to allow the provider to avoid collection costs.

As providers have weighed offering prompt-pay discounts to their patients, providers have considered the applicability of federal and state laws, guidance and other factors. For example, there is an unpublished 2004 Wisconsin Attorney General opinion that stated, if certain conditions are met, prompt-pay discounts are allowed under Wisconsin law. Other views, however, have discouraged the practice. 

Act 147’s clarification of Wisconsin law would eliminate an existing barrier that causes some health care providers to not offer certain discounts to their patients. This legislation’s provisions recognize, but also create limitations around, prompt-pay discounts to provide regulatory consistency between state and federal requirements, removes a potential barrier to more efficient health care operations, and is clearly a benefit to patients that can help lower out-of-pocket costs. This is especially important during a time when health insurance companies continue to increase out-of-pocket contributions and these higher costs are borne by patients, as well as providers who are tasked with collecting co-payments, deductibles and other cost sharing expenses.