Healthcare

A healthcare provider has agreed to sell $278 million in medical debt, affecting 82,000 patients, as part of an agreement with the charity RIP Medical Debt. This is the first time the charity has purchased debt directly from a healthcare provider. Ballad Health made the announcement yesterday. It operates 21 …

A joint project by Johns Hopkins University and Axios concludes that “many of the top 100 hospitals by revenue in the U.S. use predatory tactics to pursue patients with unpaid bills,” referring to filing lawsuits against individuals who do not pay their medical debts. Ten hospitals are responsible for 97% …

A pilot program is being offered in Tennessee aimed at reducing the number of medical debt collection lawsuits that are filed against individuals, by offering a free online medical debt resolution platform for healthcare providers and consumers to use to work out settlements before lawsuits are filed. The platform is …

By virtue of not signing it into law or vetoing it while it sat on the governor’s desk for 30 days, healthcare debt collection legislation in Maryland has become law, which, while not as restrictive as it was when it was introduced, will still require healthcare providers and debt collectors …

A large disconnect remains between healthcare providers and patients when it comes to the financial side of their relationship, according to the results of a recently released survey, which details how providers can do a better job of meeting their patients’ expectations before, during, and after visits to a doctor’s …

The governor of Nevada has signed a bill into law that will affect how medical debts are collected in the state. The new law goes into effect on July 1. Under the law, any debt owed for good or services provided by a medical facility, a provider of healthcare, or …

The Attorney General of Massachusetts has announced a settlement with a healthcare provider that will see the company pay $260,000 — including a civil penalty of $185,000 — after it was accused of failing to disclose to patients that it was not part of their insurance network and seeking to …

The California Assembly on Tuesday passed AB 1020, a bill that would ban hospitals from selling patient debts, require collectors to certify that patients have been screened for public programs and financial assistance before filing a collection lawsuit, and extend the period before a debt could be placed with a …

A hospital network that owns 84 facilities and is one of the largest hospital chains in the country is being called out for filing more than 19,000 collection lawsuits in the past 15 months following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, which makes them “far more …

Cedar, a startup created to help modernize the healthcare billing and collection process, which has valued at more than $3 billion, is now setting its sights on the insurance side of the transaction, after it was announced that the company is spending $425 million to purchase OODA Health. By putting …