It seems to be the new thing. Hospitals seeing financial problems are now employing outside companies to hound their patients about paying their bills. Some even resort to pretending to be caretakers to get information in ERs, then demanding payment before the patient can be seen.
But employees at Minnesota hospitals that contracted with Accretive Health aren’t taking this lying down, and have repeatedly complained about the company's methods of getting money from patients during a period when the state's attorney general confirms that people were being harassed over bills.
"We are giving the image that we are money-hungry," said one employee in an internal document obtained by the Star Tribune, according to Young.
I can understand their pain, and the patients. Faced with mounting hospital bills, and little health insurance we knew we could not pay off at one time, we’ve been forced to pay them off monthly. We were lucky. We had a hospital willing to make these arrangements. But others – not so much. Unpaid medical bills can destroy your credit.
Fairview Health Services workers, a client of Accretive which collects on overdue payments for hospitals, said they were told to use instructions with which they weren’t comfortable, with patients who owed money and “worried that Accretive Health's focus on dollars and cents detracted from the hospitals' mission to care for the sick, according to internal documents gathered by Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson (D) and reported by the Star Tribune today,” Young wrote.
In the past few weeks, Fairview and its consulting firm, Accretive Health, were roundly criticized over high-pressure tactics exposed in an April 24 report by Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson, ripping the consulting firm.
Maura Lerner and Tony Kennedy of the Star Tribune wrote that Internal documents, including hundreds of private e-mails, show that warning signs began not long after Accretive arrived in early 2010 to consult and issue recommendations on how to get overdue fees.
According to their story, Accretive shot back at Swanson, accusing her of “distorting the facts and saying it strives to help patients understand and manage their hospital bills,” the Star Tribune reporters posted. They write that Accretive claims it approaches patients with compassion, and "never in a way that interferes with timely care.''
But Swanson didn’t buy it, and Fairview Health Services cut all ties with Accretive Health last month, according to the newspaper.
Yet Accretive’s stock continues to climb. Taking a big hit from the bad publicity, with its stock dropping more than 50 percent after the Attorney General’s criticism last month, the company has seen its worth climb another eight percent Wednesday, and is slowly recovering.
Accretive Health isn’t the only one Swanson has looked into. In addition, federal agencies, and Democratic lawmakers are weighing in on the issue since the Attorney General published a six-volume report on her Website, saying the company parked itself in ERs and demanded money before patients could get medical care, according to Young. and misleading them into believing treatment would be withheld if they didn't pay up.
Accretive said Friday in a statement that no patients were denied medical care or told they would be, and has enlisted political allies like Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel (D) to ask Swanson to call off the dogs against Accretive Health, based in that city.
So did all the aggression work? According to the Star Tribune as reported by Young, not in the least. According to the paper, "bad debt" from unpaid bills still rose 45 percent to $58.1 million.
Edited by
Braden Becker
