Arizona Hospital Collection Attorneys

Hospital collection methods leave mark on credit report

Feb. 13, 2004

Q: I read with great interest your column regarding hospitals and their collection methods. I had a problem with a hospital in Arizona. I was making monthly payments to the hospital and my account was turned over to a collection agency anyway. I contacted the hospital accounting department and was told it was the hospital policy to write off debts that were not paid off in six months, so I ended up sending the same payments to the collection agency that I would have been sending to the hospital. Then the collection agency sold my account to another collection agency. As a result, my credit report looks like I had two collection accounts.

I am a mortgage loan officer and have seen this happen on many occasions to consumers. This causes a great deal of difficulty for the consumer. The consumer may have been making his payments on time, but it appears the hospital prefer to send the accounts to a collection agency rather than deal with a monthly payment plan. Is it any wonder hospital charges are skyrocketing when hospitals are selling their debt as a "short sell?"

A: Hospitals feel that if payment on a bill is not collected within six months, the chances for payment on that account are significantly decreased. It is financially beneficial for them to turn the account over to a collection agency. The fallacy is that some hospitals do not take into consideration the activity on the accounts. If a patient is making consistent, good faith payments it makes absolutely no sense to turn that account over to a collection agency. It makes no sense for the hospital to give up that money that they had been collecting every month. A blanket policy of turning every six month aged account over to a collection agency hurts everyone. The consumer and the hospitals both lose.

As a mortgage loan officer you have seen the repercussions of this collection method first hand both personally and professionally. I am sure this has made you more sensitive to individuals who have a "bad credit rating" due to these hospital collection methods. It is unfair for a patient to have to suffer the consequences of a "bad credit rating" due to the insensitivity of the hospital.

Information courtesy of http://www.mvhealth.com/