Healthcare

Responding to and treating patients who have contract COVID-19 has been an “absolute financial nightmare” for hospitals who are quickly running out of cash and are being forced to make drastic cuts to their operations at a time when they are already not always able to maintain adequate staffing levels, …

A growing number of healthcare organizations are announcing that they are stopping all debt collection activities to help individuals suffering financially through the coronavirus pandemic. TRA Medical Imaging, which bills itself as one of the nation’s largest physician-owned imaging practices in the nation, serving 12 outpatient facilities in the Pacific …

A state lawmaker in South Carolina is calling on the governor to enact a 60-day moratorium on the collection of medical debts to help people in financial distress caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Rep. Rosalyn Henderson-Myers said that neither hospitals nor private companies, which likely includes collection agencies, should be …

Idaho Governor Brad Little signed the Idaho Patient Act into law yesterday, which will go into effect on Jan. 1, 2021. The bill, which passed 49-20 in the state House and 32-1 in the Senate, attempts to crack down on what it deems to be “aggressive” collection of medical debts …

The city of Chicago, state of Colorado, and the House Financial Services Committee all either took steps or proposed taking steps to address debt collection during the coronavirus outbreak, joining a growing number of governments across the country to do so. Among the proposals floated by Rep. Maxine Waters [D-Calif.], …

The state of New York announced yesterday that it is suspending all debt collection activities on debts that are owed to the state, including student loans and medical debts, for 30 days while residents deal with the coronavirus pandemic. The 30-day suspension may be extended, depending on the situation at …

Healthcare facilities are having to make some tough choices and are facing new realities, for who knows how long, and there are potential downstream implications for companies that collect on medical debt. Many hospitals and healthcare facilities across the country are postponing or canceling what they deem to be “elective” …

VCU Health, a network of hospitals and healthcare facilities across Virginia, has taken another step in overhauling its debt collection process, one that will take its lawyers more than a year to complete. The organization has announced that it is canceling all existing liens against the homes of former patients …

A physician has agreed to pay $100,000 to settle a potential violation of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) with the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) in the Department of Health and Human Services because a business associate of the physician’s electronic health records company was blocking access …

Talk about proving the 80/20 rule. About 1% of the population in the United States is responsible for 22% of all healthcare spending in the country, according to a newly released data report. About 5% of the population accounts for 50% of all healthcare spending. On average, the top 1% …