Illinois Lawyer Blog

As I described in my August 21 post, titled ILLINOIS HEALTHCARE SERVICES LIEN ACT was getting a run-around from a medical collection company with respect to my client's hospital bill. The underlying personal injury case had settled and an agreement was reached as to the amount the hospital would be paid for my client's outstanding bills. Just one hiccup - the hospital had sent the bills to some out of state collection agency. And the robots at the collection agency was insisting that even after accepting the agreed-upon amount, they would pursue my client for the balance. I spoke to hospital personnel who admitted they were happy to receive partial payment on what would ordinarily be a non-collectible bill[my client had no insurance]. The hospital also admitted they usually wrote off any remaining balance. Passed that information onto the collection agency, but they wouldn't budge. So, in effect, some third party bill collector, not the hospital, was driving this dispute. Presented a Motion to Adjudicate the Lien today, laying out the facts to the trial judge. And, to my delight, he discharged the remaining balance. This particular judge is an intelligent, seasoned veteran of the bench, and he was not pleased when he figured out that some collection agency was trying to make life tough for my client. Hopefully the hospital will part ways with this particular collection agency.

Posted by Mark P. Loftus | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: HEALTHCARE LIENS

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I recently had a situation with an Illinois Healthcare provider that I had managed to avoid for the last twenty years. Represented an older man for injuries he had received in an automobile accident. The client was a very nice guy who had come here from another country decades ago, worked hard and raised his family. Didn't have much education, but always worked. He got pretty smashed up in the collision and had a fairly substantial hospital bill. He didn't have any insurance at the time, so the hospital agreed to issue a lien for the outstanding amount, to be paid out of any settlement. Typically, [at least in my experience] the healthcare provider will usually accept a discounted amount in FULL AND FINAL SETTLEMENT OF ANY OUTSTANDING BILL. The reduction is an implicit acknowledgement that but for the efforts of the attorney, the medical bill would not have been paid.

Getting back to my client, his bill was outstanding for a long time, so the hospital sent it out to collection. Collection agency contacts me and advises that after payment of the lien, they will pursue the client for any outstanding amount. I call the hospital and speak to personnel in management who agree that normally, after payment of the reduced amount, they forget about the balance. I pass this onto the collection agency, who insists on pursuing the client for any amounts outstanding. So although the hospital has conceded that their custom and practice is to accept the discounted amount in full settlement, the collections bloodsuckers refuse to budge. The inmates have apparently taken over the asylum.

My only option is to bring a Motion to Adjudicate the Lien, which isn't a particularly good option. Under 770 ILCS 23/45, healthcare providers are entitled to go after the entire amount. Hopefully the judge will recognize the unfairness of the collection agency ignoring hospital policy, and give my client a break. To be continued...

Posted by Mark P. Loftus | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: HEALTHCARE LIENS

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