Greenbeard
Gold Member
NYT has an interesting look today at some of the more aggressive medical debt collection tactics.
Debt Collector Is Faulted for Tough Tactics in Hospitals
Reminiscent of a trend the WSJ noted four years ago:
Why Hospitals Want Your Credit Report - WSJ.com
Debt Collector Is Faulted for Tough Tactics in Hospitals
One of the nations largest medical debt-collection companies is under fire in Minnesota for having placed its employees in emergency rooms and other departments at two hospitals and demanding that patients pay before receiving treatment, according to documents released Tuesday by the Minnesota attorney general. The documents say the company also used patient health records to wrangle for more money on overdue bills.
In its pitches to hospitals, Accretive boasts that it trains its staff to focus on getting payment. Employees in the emergency room were told to ask incoming patients first for a credit-card payment. If that fails, employees are told to say, If you have your checkbook in your car I will be happy to wait for you, internal documents show.
In July 2010, a manager at Accretive told staff members at Fairview Health Services, a Minnesota hospital group, that they should get cracking on labor and delivery, since there is a good chunk to be collected there, according to internal company e-mails.
As part of its collection strategy, Accretive fostered a boiler-room environment at the hospitals it works with, according to hospital employees and the newly released documents.
While hospital collections increased, patient care plummeted, the employees said. Patients are harassed mercilessly, a hospital employee told Ms. Swanson. Another hospital employee complained, We were told if we dont get money from patients, in the emergency room, we will be fired.
Accretive debt-collection employees, calling themselves financial counselors, are instructed by the upper management ranks to stall patients entering the emergency room until they have agreed to pay a prior balance, according to the documents.
Reminiscent of a trend the WSJ noted four years ago:
Why Hospitals Want Your Credit Report - WSJ.com
In a development that consumer groups say raises privacy issues, a growing number of hospitals are mining patients' personal financial information to figure out how likely they are to pay their bills.
Some hospitals are peering into patients' credit reports, which contain information on people's lines of credit, debts and payment histories. Other hospitals are contracting with outside services that predict a patient's income and whether he or she is likely to walk away from a medical bill. Hospitals often use these services when patients are uninsured or have big out-of-pocket costs despite having health insurance.
Hospitals say the practice helps them identify which patients to pursue actively for payment because they can afford to pay. They say it also allows them to figure out more quickly which patients are eligible for charity care or assistance programs.