A nonprofit healthcare system that is already being sued by the Attorney General of Washington for its debt collection practices has now been spotlighted by The New York Times for the “pressure” it put on patients to pay their debts, even though they may have been eligible for charity care. …
Read More »Wash. AG Amends Lawsuit to Accuse Collection Agencies of Failing to Provide Certain Disclosures
Months after filing a lawsuit accusing a hospital network of “aggressively” seeking to collect $70 million from individuals who were eligible for charity care, the Attorney General of Washington has expanded his lawsuit to include a pair of collection agencies that allegedly failed to inform individuals about their eligibility. The …
Read More »Washington Legislature Passes Expanded Charity Care Bill
The Washington state legislature has passed a bill that would expand the state’s charity care law and make free healthcare available to individuals making 300% of the federal poverty level. The bill, HB 1616, now moves to the desk of Gov. Jay Inslee, a Democrat, for his signature or veto. …
Read More »Wash. AG Sues Hospitals Over ‘Aggressive’ Collection Efforts
The Attorney General of Washington has filed a lawsuit against a hospital network for failing to ensure that certain patients were legally eligible for charity care and “aggressively” collecting $70 million from those individuals. The complaint was filed against Swedish Health Services and Providence Health & Services-Washington and accuses them …
Read More »Report Calls Out N.C. Hospitals to Fix Medical Debt and Charity Care Options
Almost one-third of the total amount of bad debt incurred at hospitals in North Carolina is attributable to individuals who would have otherwise qualified for charity care — three times higher than the national average, according to a report that has been released by the state’s Office of the Treasurer. …
Read More »Wash. AG Proposes Bill to Expand Charity Care
The Attorney General of Washington State is planning to introduce a bill during the next legislative session that seeks to increase the eligibility for full write-offs on out-of-pocket medical bills for more than 1 million residents of the state. A copy of the bill, HB 1616, which will be introduced …
Read More »Nonprofit Hospitals Not As Giving as For-Profit, Gov’t Facilities: Report
Even though they are receiving exemptions from having to pay their taxes because of the amount of charity care they are supposed to be providing, nonprofit hospitals provided less charity care than for-profit hospitals, according to the details of a study released earlier this week. Looking at data from 2018, …
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