“Our amendment aims to protect patient confidentiality, Ross said.  “The majority of collection actions included in credit reports, about 52 percent, are associated with medical bills.  This data includes information that can be used to infer the type of entity that originally sought the collection, such as a hospital, drug abuse treatment facility, or any other medical business where a person received care.  Such information puts certain patients’ privacy at risk.  This amendment is needed to ensure that consumers are not unfairly penalized for being ill and are not subject to potential discrimination that may be associated with certain ailments.” 

The bipartisan amendment would require any person whose primary business is providing medical services, products, or devices, and who furnishes information to a consumer reporting agency to identify themselves to the bureaus as “medical information furnishers.”  Consumer reporting agencies would then be prohibited from including in a consumer’s report the name, address, and telephone number of any medical furnisher, as well as any information that could be used to identify or infer the specific provider or the nature of such services or devices to the consumer.  Rather, the amendment would require consumer reporting agencies to code this information in the credit report. 

Ross, a Financial Services Committee member and cosponsor of the FACT Act, offered the amendment today during the committee’s markup of the bill.  The committee is expected to vote on the amendment tonight.