Patient Safety | 01.06.23
Many U.S. Hospitals Sue Patients for Debts or Threaten Their Credit: Investigation
by National Public Radio
A recent Kaiser News Network (KHN) investigation revealed hundreds of U.S. hospitals support policies to pressure indebted patients through litigation, selling patient accounts to debt buyers and reporting patients to credit rating agencies. The implication is that most of the nation's roughly 5,100 hospitals harbor such policies, and few institutions have halted what federal rules call "extraordinary collection actions" even as millions of Americans face crushing medical debt. Moreover, most hospitals probed by KHN conceal their collection activities, publicly posting incomplete or no information about what patients risk if they can’t pay. Hospital officials claim they have an obligation to collect what patients owe, while leaders also highlight the industry's commitment to help low-income patients and others who cannot cover their debts. Yet about one in five hospitals checked by KHN do not post aid policies online.
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