Medical Debt Reporting
RI Medical Debt Reporting Ban
Credit reporting · Health · Financial
Since January 1, 2025, Rhode Island bars medical debt from appearing on credit reports. Providers may not furnish medical debt to credit bureaus and must bar their collectors by contract from doing so, credit bureaus may not record or report it, and collectors must tell consumers in writing that Rhode Island law prohibits medical debt reporting and must pause reporting and collection while insurance appeals are pending.
- Where
- Rhode Island
- Citation
- R.I. Gen. Laws §§ 6-60-1 to 6-60-5
- Status
- In force
- In force since
- 2025-01-01
- Enforced by
- Rhode Island Attorney General; consumers
- People can sue
- Yes
- Penalties
- A consumer reporting agency or debt collector that does not cure within 30 days after the consumer's notice is liable to the consumer for per day of noncompliance; the Attorney General may then seek an injunction and other relief, and violators pay costs and attorney's fees (§ 6-60-5).
- Applies to
- Healthcare providers, licensed healthcare facilities and certified emergency medical transportation services
- Consumer (credit) reporting agencies
- Creditors, debt collectors and collection agencies collecting medical debt
What a privacy notice must say
- All creditor and collector correspondence about medical debt must state that Rhode Island law prohibits credit bureaus from reporting medical debt or factoring it into a credit score, and collectors may not misrepresent that it will be reported.R.I. Gen. Laws § 6-60-4(a)-(b)
Practices it requires
- Healthcare providers, facilities and EMS services may not furnish medical debt to consumer reporting agencies, and contracts with collectors or debt buyers must prohibit reporting any portion of medical debt.R.I. Gen. Laws § 6-60-2
- Credit reporting agencies may not acquire, record or report medical debt, or issue consumer reports with adverse information they know or should know relates to medical debt.R.I. Gen. Laws § 6-60-3
- While a health insurance appeal is pending within 60 days of the financial statement, do not report, collect or sue on the charges, and have any already-reported debt deleted.R.I. Gen. Laws § 6-60-4(c)-(d)
Sources
Checked against these sources on 2026-09-25 by research agent (Claude), primary sources.
Unverified: A 2025 act (P.L. 2025, chs. 300 and 301, 'Credit union reporting medical debt prohibit') appears to extend related rules to credit unions; its text and codification were not reviewed. | Federal FCRA preemption questions for state medical-debt reporting bans were not researched.
Research reference, not legal advice.