SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WAND) — The Illinois House unanimously passed a bill Wednesday to ban insurance companies from automatically coding a health service lower than what is actually provided to patients.

This plan states all downcoding determinations must be made or reviewed by a real person, and insurance companies would be required to notify doctors if a service is downcoded.

The bill also bans insurers from downcoding in a discriminatory manner against doctors who routinely treat patients with complex health conditions.

"Downcoding is patently unfair to medical professionals and the patient," said Rep. Bill Hauter (R-Morton). "It ignores our training, experience, skill and education. All of this goes into medical decision-making. It ignores all that."

Insurance companies would also be required to provide health care professionals a clear process to dispute downcoded claims within 90 days.

Senate Bill 3114 previously gained unanimous support in the Senate. The measure now heads to Gov. JB Pritzker's desk.

"Downcoding, quite frankly, is just an unfair system," said Sen. Dave Koehler (D-Peoria). "There was some discussion about also trying to limit upcoding, but upcoding is primarily illegal." 

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