CMS Administrator Seema Verma and consumer advocates are speaking out about recent media reports that highlighted hospitals' medical debt collection practices and lawsuits they filed against patients, according to ProPublica.
Memphis, Tenn.-based nonprofit hospital system Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare; Fredericksburg, Va.-based nonprofit Mary Washington Hospital; Charlottesville-based state-run University of Virginia Health System; and Carlsbad (N.M.) Medical Center are among the organizations that have come under scrutiny over the last few months.
In response to the media reports, Ms. Verma expressed her viewpoint.
"We are learning the lengths to which certain nonprofit hospitals go to collect the full list price from uninsured patients," she said during a Sept. 10 American Hospital Association meeting in Washington, according to published remarks. "These hospitals are referring patients to debt collectors, garnishing wages, placing liens on property and even suing patients into bankruptcy."