Responding To Flap, Hospital Debt Collector Draws On Political Defenders
Chicago-based Accretive Health calls for national standards on bill collection practices, as the American Hospital Association reports recent updates to its 2003 guidelines on the topic.
NPR Shots Blog: Embattled Hospital Debt Collector Taps Politicians For Defense
So what do you do when you're accused of hitting up sick patients in the hospital to pay their bills — sometimes even before they get treatment? Well, if you're Chicago-based Accretive Health, under fire by not only the Minnesota Attorney General but key members of Congress and possibly the Obama Administration, you fight fire with fire. You line up your own set of political defenders (Rovner, 5/17).
CQ HealthBeat: AHA: Standards For Hospital Billing, Collection Practices Already Exist
The company accused of out-of-bounds tactics in getting patients to pay for their hospital care says national standards are needed to deal with billing and collection practices. But the American Hospital Association issued such guidelines in 2003 for the thousands of facilities it represents. The hospital trade group recently updated it's "Principles and Guidelines on Hospital Billing and Collection Practices." The AHA board said it updated the guidelines because of press reports concerning Chicago-based Accretive Health, and to conform with provisions of the health care law that deal with the issue (Bunis, 5/17).