Northwell’s Lenox Hill Hospital, which filed 40 of the liens, was the one hospital within the metropolis to interact within the follow throughout that interval, the Group Service Society mentioned.
Barbara Osborn, a Northwell spokeswoman, known as the report “deceptive and inaccurate” and mentioned the system “by no means and can by no means power the sale of anybody’s property.”
“When sufferers can afford to pay their medical payments however select to not, their actions endanger our skill to offer high-quality care to our group and threatens our promise to offer monetary help to people who can’t afford care,” Osborn mentioned in a press release. “The lien created by the judgment sits passively, with no motion taken till the property is in some unspecified time in the future bought and all collectors with judgments are paid.”
State regulation permits nonprofit hospitals to position liens on sufferers’ houses after profitable a positive judgment in a medical-debt lawsuit. A invoice now pending in Albany would bar hospitals from securing liens in opposition to sufferers’ main residences; 10 states have such legal guidelines on the books, mentioned Elisabeth Benjamin, vice chairman of well being initiatives on the Group Service Society.
Benjamin mentioned liens have a “ruinous” affect on sufferers, jeopardizing their skill to promote or refinance their house or get a mortgage to purchase a automotive or pay faculty tuition. She mentioned the follow disproportionately impacts individuals of shade and low-income sufferers, a lot of whom are usually not paying their medical payments as a result of they can’t afford to take action.
State Sen. Gustavo Rivera, who chairs his chamber’s well being committee and is sponsoring the laws, known as the follow “unconscionable.”
Bea Grause, president of the Healthcare Affiliation of New York State, which represents 246 hospitals and healthcare techniques, mentioned the report “ignores the in depth work by hospitals to help sufferers to be coated for providers supplied and to additional insulate them from private legal responsibility in the event that they qualify for monetary help.”
Northwell, for instance, supplied greater than $250 million in at-cost charity care and issued 40,000-plus zero-interest fee plans in 2020, Osborn mentioned.
Benjamin mentioned many hospital sufferers are unaware of economic help choices, partially as a result of the appliance and insurance policies for support are usually not standardized throughout services.
“It could be a beneficiant coverage, however it’s in title solely,” she mentioned.
The Group Service Society of New York was shaped in 1939 to deal with the foundation causes of financial disparities by means of analysis, advocacy, litigation and programming. It’s based mostly in Murray Hill.
This story first appeared in our sister publication, Crain’s New York Business.
