Collateral source rule and payments rendered prior to trial, admissibility ...
Mo. Rev. Stat. § 490.715
in effect490.715. 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.
(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
Source: Open US Law by Vaquill AI (CC BY 4.0)URL: https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=490.715Fetched: 10/17/2026