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How Are You Collecting From The Uninsured?
Recently, a group of nationally known class action lawyers
filed a series of high profile lawsuits against non-profit,
charity and educationally affiliated hospital chains and medical
centers alleging that these facilities have taken advantage
of their tax exempt status by overcharging poor and uninsured
patients.
While these lawyers appear to have taken up a noble cause
in assisting the poor and uninsured, a closer look at these
lawsuits reveals that the real interest behind the mass litigation
may be an effort to undermine large non-profit hospital chains
and revoke the tax-exempt status of religious and educationally
affiliated medical centers.
Apart from the reasons underlying the recent spate of litigation
against the nation’s not-for-profit facilities, both
the media and the public are giving the issue of uninsured
patients and the collection of unpaid hospital bills greater
attention than ever before. Many have begun to scrutinize the
collection methods focused upon the millions of patients who
receive necessary medical treatment but lack healthcare coverage
to cover the cost associated with the provision of such essential
care.
Our experience in the area of collecting from the uninsured
affords us unique insight into the complexities and difficulties
faced by for profit and not-for-profit hospital and medical
providers seeking to recover literally billions of dollars
in outstanding healthcare debt owed by patients lacking healthcare
coverage.
We advise our clients to take both a compassionate yet tempered
approach when collecting from the vast group lumped together
under the label of “uninsured’. Clearly, those
in the most distress such as the chronically poor deserve and
receive the most consideration in terms of charity care and
drastically reduced or even written-off charges. Others worthy
of concern include recent immigrants with limited income potential
and the elderly who may be responsible for deductibles and
co-payments even after application of Medicare payments.
Conversely, we counsel our clients, whether for-profit or
not-for-profit, to take a serious stand when it comes to collecting
from those patients who have the means to afford coverage but
instead use their assets for other purchases such as luxury
homes, cars, vacations and other trappings of the consumer
culture.
Unfortunately, those patients who lack healthcare coverage
but possess the means to pay for even the best health insurance
find themselves routinely grouped together under the broader
heading of the uninsured. We deem this designation as misleading
and even prejudicial to the very real problem facing millions
and millions of patients who honestly lack healthcare coverage
because of poverty and economic hardship.
While the legal battles between the country’s non-profit
hospitals and medical facilities play out to the national audience,
we advise our clients to take a pro-active and reasoned attitude
to the business of collecting from the uninsured. Given the
emotionally charged nature of collecting from the uninsured
and the ever present need for today’s facility to remain
financial viable in the wake of increased costs and diminishing
recoveries, no hospital or provider can ignore the challenge
of collecting from the uninsured.
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