Accretive Health told to stop abusive collections tactics of hospital patients.
Hospital patients who can’t afford to pay their bills would get protection from abusive collections practices under new proposed rules issued by the U.S. Treasury Department.
The rules, which seek to clarify hospitals’ responsibilities under the federal Affordable Care Act, give patients at least four months to apply for financial help before hospitals can turn them over to collections agencies or file lawsuits.
The proposed regulations, announced on Friday, would also require hospitals to establish financial assistance policies and provide patients with the information needed to apply for such help.
“I think it’s a very helpful first step,” said Adam Linker, an analyst at the N.C. Health Access Coalition. “Virtually all of the hospitals have financial assistance policies. All that we’re asking is that they show them to patients, which doesn’t seem like a lot to ask.”
Most hospitals in North Carolina and across the nation are tax-exempt – a distinction that saves them millions each year. In exchange, they’re expected to provide financial help to those without the ability to pay.
But a recent investigation by The News & Observer and The Charlotte Observer found that many uninsured patients are never offered charity care – the act of forgiving all or part of a bill. More than one-third of North Carolina hospitals provided no details about their charity care policies on their websites.
And thousands of times a year, North Carolina hospitals are suing patients, the newspapers’ investigation showed. Many of those patients were uninsured – and a significant number should have qualified for free hospital care.
Other news stories this year focused on Accretive Health, a collection company that has been under scrutiny by Minnesota authorities for practices that included stationing employees in emergency rooms to demand that patients pay before receiving treatment.
“In recent months, we have heard concerns about aggressive hospital debt collection activities,” said Emily McMahon, the Treasury Department’s acting assistant secretary for tax policy. “… Our proposed rules will help ensure they don’t happen in charitable hospitals.”
The proposed rules don’t dictate what sort of financial assistance hospitals must provide. But McMahon said they are designed to “give hospitals the flexibility to establish programs that meet the needs of their communities.”
http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/06/24/2155286/feds-to-hospitals-stop-abusive.html#storylink=cpy
http://blackpoliticalbuzz.blogspot.com/2012/06/us-treasury-proposes-ordering-hospitals.html
Aggressive hospital debt collection could be curbed by Treasury Dept. rules.
New rules proposed last Friday by the Treasury Department would require non-profit hospitals to give patients a four-month grace period to seek financial assistance to pay their bills before the hospitals could turn over the debt to a collection agency, according to a release on the Treasury web site.
The proposed rules are almost certainly a response, at least in part, to recent horror stories about Accretive Health, the Chicago-based debt collection company that's been accused of violating privacy laws and strong-arming Minnesota hospital patients while they try to get medical care.
Just a few months ago, Accretive had partnerships with three hospital companies in Minnesota. Now two of the three companies have cut ties with Accretive, and one of those companies, Fairview Health Services, has also jettisoned its CEO. Lori Swanson, Minnesota's attorney general, sued Accretive in January, and Senator Al Franken has led hearings into the company's practices.
The Treasury's proposals appear an attempt to civilize the whole process of paying medical bills -- at least at non-profit hospitals, which account for a little more than half of all hospitals in the country, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Despite the move, the hospital debt problem isn't likely to go away anytime soon. In 2010, hospitals provided more than $39 billion worth of care to people who could not afford to pay, according to The New York Times. Many facilities are operating under intense financial strain.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/26/aggressive-hospital-debt-collection_n_1628914.html