Hospitals using debt collectors to block patients' ER access

 
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agate
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PostPosted: Thu May 03, 2012 8:10 pm    Post subject: Hospitals using debt collectors to block patients' ER access Reply with quote

According to the New York Times (April 24, 2012), hospitals are "embedding" debt collectors in ERs, and these "staff members" deliberately stall patients in the ER until the patient pays up on a debt.

Quote:
Employees were told to stall patients entering the emergency room until they had agreed to pay a previous balance, according to the documents. Employees in the emergency room, for example, were told to ask incoming patients first for a credit card payment. If that failed, employees were told to say, “If you have your checkbook in your car I will be happy to wait for you,” internal documents show.



The entire article can be seen here.
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agate
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Location: Oregon

PostPosted: Fri Aug 10, 2012 1:41 pm    Post subject: Follow-up: Hospital debt collector barred from Minnesota Reply with quote

From Medical News Today, August 1, 2012:

Quote:
Hospital Debt Collector Barred from Minnesota

By David Pittman, Washington Correspondent, MedPage Today

A Chicago-based debt collection company has agreed to pay $2.5 million in fines and stop doing business in Minnesota for 2 years following an investigation into alleged strong-arm collection tactics used on hospital patients.

Minnesota's attorney general and its commerce commissioner said Accretive Health -- a company hired by hospitals to collect payments for medical care -- used illegal, unethical, and aggressive tactics to collect debts from sick and vulnerable patients in the state.

Those tactics included embedding debt collectors who appeared to be hospital staff in Minnesota emergency rooms. The collectors allegedly demanded patients pay before receiving treatment, according to the New York Times, which obtained a report on Accretive from Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson.

According to Commerce Commissioner Mike Rothman, the settlement bars Accretive from conducting business in Minnesota for 2 years and requires that the company provide restitution to consumers adversely affected by its alleged misconduct, amid other penalties.

In a statement, Accretive said there were no cases where patients claimed they were denied care. The settlement contains no admission of liability or wrongdoing, it added.

"Entering into this settlement agreement allows our company to put this matter behind us and prevents further distraction from the important work that we do for our hospital clients," Accretive said.

Rothman called Accretive's actions "illegal and unconscionable."

"Today's settlement attempts to rectify the damages inflicted on Minnesota consumers who were deceived, lured into a false sense of security, and then taken advantage of," Rothman said in a statement.

Requesting payment from patients before receiving emergency room care may be a violation of the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act, Rep. Pete Stark (D-Calif.) said in April when calling for a Health and Human Services investigation into the company's alleged practices. The law requires hospitals to provide care regardless of a patient's ability to pay.

According to the New York Times, doctors at a hospital in Minnesota complained in 2011 about Accretive Health's tactics. Accretive has contracts with Minnesota's two largest hospitals as well as other large hospitals and health systems across the U.S.



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