Is your hospital suing your patients for medical debt collection?
Top of the Week
“Despite growing evidence of the harm caused by medical debt, hundreds of U.S. hospitals maintain policies to aggressively pursue patients for unpaid bills, using tactics such as lawsuits, selling patient accounts to debt buyers, and reporting patients to credit rating agencies, a KHN investigation shows.”
Emergency clinicians take pride in caring for “anyone, anything, anytime”. When the healthcare system fails, patients can always come to us. But then some of our hospitals (and physician practices) sue those same patients for medical debt resulting from ED visits.
Click here to check out how your hospital manages unpaid medical bills. A few of KHN’s findings about hospital billing practices:
More than two-thirds sue patients or take other legal action against them, such as garnishing wages or placing liens on property;
A similar share of the hospitals report patients with outstanding bills to credit rating agencies, putting patients’ credit scores and their ability to rent an apartment, buy a car, or get a job at risk;
A quarter sell patients’ debts to debt collectors, who in turn can pursue patients for years for unpaid bills;
Emergency clinicians pledge to do no harm. Many of our patients are being harmed - even bankrupted - by hospitals’ aggressive billing practices.
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