SECTION 134.130. Interest for Late Payment on Medical Bills and Refunds

(a) Insurance carriers shall pay interest on medical bills paid on or after the 60th day after the insurance carrier originally received the complete medical bill, in accordance with §133.340 of this title (relating to Medical Payments and Denials).

(b) Health care providers shall pay interest to insurance carriers on requests for refunds paid later than the 60th day after the date the health care provider received the request for refund, in accordance with §133.260 of this title (relating to Refunds).

(c) The rate of interest to be paid shall be the rate calculated in accordance with Labor Code §401.023 and in effect on the date the payment was made.

(d) Interest shall be calculated as follows:

(1) multiply the rate of interest by the amount on which interest is due (to determine the annual amount of interest);

(2) divide the annual amount of interest by 365 (to determine the daily interest amount); then

(3) multiply the daily interest amount by the number of days of interest to which the recipient is entitled under subsection (a) or (b) of this section.

(e) The percentage of interest for each quarter may be obtained by accessing the Texas Department of Insurance's website, www.tdi.state.tx.us.

(f) This section shall apply to all dates of service on or after May 2, 2006.

Source Note: The provisions of this §134.130 adopted to be effective May 2, 2006, 31 TexReg 3561