ON APRIL 11, 2024, THE SENATE ADOPTED AMENDMENT #1 AND PASSED SENATE BILL 2253, AS AMENDED.
AMENDMENT #1 makes the changes described below to damages in health care liability actions and applies to all health care liability actions filed on or after September 29, 2023.
Present law authorizes in a health care liability action in which liability is admitted or established, the damages awarded to include (in addition to other elements of damages authorized by law) actual economic losses suffered by the claimant by reason of the personal injury, including, but not limited to, cost of reasonable and necessary medical care, rehabilitation services, and custodial care, loss of services and loss of earned income, but only to the extent that such costs are not paid or payable and such losses are not replaced, or indemnified in whole or in part, by insurance provided by an employer either governmental or private, by social security benefits, service benefit programs, unemployment benefits, or any other source except the assets of the claimant or of the members of the claimant's immediate family and insurance purchased in whole or in part, privately and individually.
This amendment deletes the above present law and, instead, provides that in all health care liability actions, the common law collateral source rule is abrogated as specified in this amendment. In a health care liability action, the damages awarded may include, in addition to other elements of damages authorized by law, past and future actual economic losses suffered by the claimant. Past actual economic losses are limited to the following:
(1) The amounts that have been paid or will be paid by the assets of the claimant or on the claimant's behalf; and
(2) The amounts the claimant's providers have accepted or will accept as full payment for reasonable and necessary medical care, rehabilitation services, or custodial care, whether pursuant to (i) an agreement with an insurance company or third-party payor; (ii) the authorized reimbursement rates for a government health insurance program in which the claimant and the provider participate; or (iii) any charity, discount program, write-off, gift, or other reason by the provider.
This amendment provides that actual economic losses will only be limited to the extent that documentation of the reduction is submitted.
As used in this amendment, "actual economic losses" means the financial costs incurred by the claimant by reason of the personal injury, including the cost of reasonable and necessary medical care, rehabilitation services, and custodial care.

Statutes affected:
Introduced: 29-26-121(d)(1)(B), 29-26-121