Seventeen New York hospitals and health systems have sued 1,600 patients to collect $9 million in medical debts since 2022, despite state efforts to curb the practice, according to a July 12 report from the USA Today Network New York.
The USA Today Network analyzed court records filed since January 2022, according to the report. The review excluded hospitals in New York City and on Long Island, but pointed to research from the Community Service Society that shows many of those hospitals limited or halted medical debt lawsuits in recent years.
Six things to know:
1. Many of the health systems that continued to pursue debt-collection lawsuits serve low-income or rural communities.
2. The average amount of debt pursued in the lawsuits was $5,700.
3. Many of the cases ended with patients not showing up to court hearings, resulting in default judgements in favor of the hospitals. The outlet said that raises questions about "how patients learned of the debt collection or potential violations of state law requiring financial-aid eligibility screenings and notification."
4. The lawsuits came after other hospitals stopped debt-collection lawsuits during the COVID-19 pandemic.
5. When the USA Today Network reached out to the hospitals for comment, some denied they filed lawsuits or pointed to the charity care they deliver. Others said they were phasing out the practice.
6. Since 2022, New York has pursued several measures to limit debt-related harm to patients. These include a law banning home liens and wage garnishments in medical-debt collections and recently approved legislation that keeps medical debt from showing up on consumer credit reports.
Read the full report here.