Effective 28 Aug 2017

490.715. Collateral source rule and payments rendered prior to trial, admissibility of evidence — effect on special damages — evidence of actual cost of medical care or treatment permitted. — 1. No evidence of collateral sources, or payments rendered under subsection 2 of this section, shall be admissible other than such evidence provided for in this section.

2. If prior to trial a defendant or his or her insurer or authorized representative, or any combination of them, pays all or any part of a plaintiff's special damages, then any portion of a plaintiff's claims for special damages that are satisfied by a payment from a defendant or the defendant's insurer or authorized representative, or any combination of them, are not recoverable from that defendant.

3. If such payments described in subsection 2 of this section are included in a plaintiff's claim for special damages at trial, the defendant who made the payment, or on whose behalf the payment was made, shall be entitled to deduct and receive a credit for such payments from any judgment as provided for in section 490.710.

4. This section does not require the exclusion of evidence admissible for another proper purpose.

5. (1) Except as provided in subsection 2 of this section, parties may introduce evidence of the actual cost of the medical care or treatment rendered to a plaintiff or a patient whose care is at issue. Actual cost of the medical care or treatment shall be reasonable, necessary, and a proximate result of the negligence or fault of any party.

(2) For purposes of this subsection, the phrase "actual cost of the medical care or treatment" shall be defined as a sum of money not to exceed the dollar amounts paid by or on behalf of a plaintiff or a patient whose care is at issue plus any remaining dollar amount necessary to satisfy the financial obligation for medical care or treatment by a health care provider after adjustment for any contractual discounts, price reduction, or write-off by any person or entity.

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(L. 1987 H.B. 700 § 38, A.L. 2005 H.B. 393, A.L. 2017 S.B. 31)

CROSS REFERENCE:

Applicability of statute changes to cases filed after August 28, 2005, 538.305