The University of Virginia Health System is back in the headlines again, this time being accused of attaching liens to patients’ property as a means of collecting on unpaid debts.
The healthcare provider has “thousands” of liens on properties and continues to obtain new ones on older court cases, according to a published report.
UVA Health first came into the spotlight last year, when a published report accused the healthcare provider of filing too many lawsuits against patients with unpaid debts. The published report said that it had filed 36,000 lawsuits in the past six years, seeking to recover $106 million in unpaid medical debts.
The provider responded, creating a Collection Council, which is actually due to make a series of recommendations by the end of this month, according to a hospital spokesman. UVA also stopped proceeding on a large number of collection lawsuits and announced changes to expand the amount of charity care it offers to individuals without health insurance.
The report cites a number of former patients who have had liens put on their property because of unpaid medical debts. While the provider “rarely” forces a patient to sell his or her property to pay an unpaid debt, according to the report, the 6% interest allowed to accumulate on the unpaid debt every year until the property is refinanced or sold can make the total amount much higher than the original charges.
To contrast the actions of UVA Health, the report discussed how VCU Health, another hospital network in Virginia, has canceled all liens against individuals with unpaid debts.
