A group of complainants against several Arkansas hospitals are seeking class-action status in three separate legal actions against Baptist Health of Little Rock, St. Bernard’s Hospital Inc. of Jonesboro and Lawrence Memorial Hospital in Walnut Ridge.
The complaints have to do with an emerging trend among hospitals in the state where these health care institutions refuse to honor health insurance while holding out for higher claims against at-fault parties mostly in cases of injury.
“The assertions contained in these lawsuits are wrong,” a Baptist Health spokesman told reporters. “Baptist Health’s practices are consistent with Arkansas law and are widely practiced by most hospitals.”
However, legislators are sitting up and taking notice of the billing strategy. Indiana, for instance, has rendered the billing method illegal in 2013. Shawn Daniels, a lawyer for a complainant against Northwest Medical Center, which applied the same strategy to her case, said he is not aware of similar laws to curb the practice in Arkansas.
“There (have) been several other states that have taken legislative action to stop this process going on that’s being used by these hospitals,” Daniels observed.
Meanwhile, Elisa White, vice president and general counsel for the Arkansas Hospital Association said, ““It’s (a) well-established law that practitioners, including hospitals … can have a lien against a third-party recovery when there has been an injury to someone. It’s pretty clear under the law that that’s allowable.”
Still, Daniels said he hopes to prove that such a collection practice is unlawful. “They’re taking advantage of the lien law and using it in a manner it was never intended,” he explained.
