ProPublica Investigation Causes Hospital to End Its Policy of Suing Thousands of Low Income Patients

http://readersupportednews.org/news-section2/318-66/37219-propublica-investigation-causes-hospital-to-end-its-policy-of-suing-thousands-of-low-income-patients

For years, Heartland Regional Medical Center, a nonprofit hospital in the small city of St. Joseph, Mo., had quietly sued thousands of its low-income patients over their unpaid bills.

But after an investigation by NPR and ProPublica prompted further scrutiny by Sen. Charles Grassley, the hospital overhauled its financial assistance policy late last year and forgave the debts of thousands of former patients.

The hospital "deserves credit for doing the right thing after its practices were scrutinized," Grassley, R-Iowa, wrote last week in a letter to his Senate colleagues, "but it should not take congressional and press attention to ensure that tax-exempt, charitable organizations are focused on their mission of helping those in need."

The changes at Heartland, which now goes by Mosaic Life Care, are a boon to its poorest patients. But after NPR and ProPublica's investigation into Mosaic, ProPublica has since found numerous cases across the country of nonprofit hospitals, which pay no income tax, filing suits by the thousands. Mosaic seized about $20,000 from Keith Herie's wages over the course of eight years. When NPR and ProPublica published their story in 2014, he still owed $26,000. Mosaic later offered to settle for $8,300, and Herie accepted.

Some have filed more suits than Mosaic ever did. In Evansville, Ind., for example, Deaconess Hospital filed more than 20,000 lawsuits from 2010 through 2015, according to ProPublica's analysis of state court data. Deaconess reconsidered its financial assistance policies after questions from ProPublica last week and said it would be making changes.