SECTION 228. Advance disclosure of allowed amount or charge for admission, procedure or service

(a) Prior to an admission, procedure or service and upon request by a patient or prospective patient, a health care provider shall, within 2 working days, disclose the allowed amount or charge of the admission, procedure or service, including the amount for any facility fees required; provided, however, that if a health care provider is unable to quote a specific amount in advance due to the health care provider's inability to predict the specific treatment or diagnostic code, the health care provider shall disclose the estimated maximum allowed amount or charge for a proposed admission, procedure or service, including the amount for any facility fees required.

(b) If a patient or prospective patient is covered by a health plan, a health care provider who participates as a network provider shall, upon request of a patient or prospective patient, provide, based on the information available to the provider at the time of the request, sufficient information regarding the proposed admission, procedure or service for the patient or prospective patient to use the applicable toll-free telephone number and website of the health plan established to disclose out-of-pocket costs, under section 23 of chapter 176O. A health care provider may assist a patient or prospective patient in using the health plan's toll-free number and website.

(b) A health care provider referring a patient to another provider that is part of or represented by the same provider organization as defined in section 11 of chapter 6D shall disclose that the providers are part of or represented by the same provider organization.

As used in this section, ''allowed amount'', shall mean the contractually agreed upon amount paid by a carrier to a health care provider for health care services provided to an insured.