Patients at Utah’s two largest hospital chains, Intermountain Healthcare and University Health Care, would be protected from abusive debt-collection practices under proposed rules issued late last week by the U.S. Treasury Department.
The draft rules apply to half the nation’s 5,754 hospitals, those classified as charitable nonprofits. They flow from a little-known section of federal health reform but come in the wake of allegations that a Chicago-based debt-collection firm, Accretive Health, placed bedside bill collectors in nonprofit hospitals in Minnesota, causing some emergency patients to think they would be denied treatment.
"In recent months, we have heard concerns about aggressive collection activities, including allowing debt collectors to pursue collections in emergency rooms. These practices jeopardize patient care, and our proposed rules will help ensure they don’t happen in charitable hospitals," said Acting Assistant Secretary for Tax Policy Emily McMahon in a prepared statement. Salt Lake Tribune
