What We Do
We defend consumers sued by hospitals and debt collectors seeking to collect on medical debt. We also sue hospitals and debt collectors for violating the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and other laws by engaging in aggressive medical and improper collection and billing abuse.
Medical Debt Billing & Collection Abuse
Medical debt can create particularly difficult challenges for consumers because, unlike other expenses, patients usually do not know the cost or the interest rate that a hospital will charge for a medical procedure before they have it. A 2019 change in the law now mandates that each hospital maintain a spreadsheet called a “chargemaster” that lists the prices for services. Federal law mandates hospitals make the chargemaster available on their websites, although they can be difficult to find and understand. The Obama administration in 2015 passed new rules aimed at ensuring that low-income patients who are eligible for financial assistance cannot be charged these full “list prices” hospitals maintain in the chargemaster. However, when patients are eligible for financial assistance, even at nonprofit hospitals, remains vague.
The law is also vague as to how hospitals and debt collection firms can collect on outstanding medical bills. They are often permitted to go to great lengths to collect medical debt. Facing financial difficulty, some hospitals even allow employees from debt collection firms inside the hospital. These collections employees may look just like a hospital employee. They may confuse and harass patients with outstanding bills while they are seeking needed care. Aggressive collections practices have even led to recovering patients’ arrests for failure to pay their debt or appear in court.
When hospitals become too aggressive in their attempts to collect bills or collections firms become too involved in your medical intake or care, or engage in deceptive practices in an attempt to collect on medical debt, their actions may violate the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and other laws.
Further, hospitals continue to pursue aggressive debt collection tactics amidst the coronavirus pandemic, a time when many families have faced loss of income and additional health hardships.