Government
Minn. court throws out suits charging hospitals unfairly billed uninsured
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted Feb. 21, 2005
A federal judge in Minnesota earlier this month dismissed proposed class-action lawsuits alleging that two nonprofit hospitals used unfair billing and collection practices for uninsured patients. The patients said Fairview Health Services and Allina Health System, both based in Minneapolis, charged them far more than what the hospitals billed Medicare or insured patients. The American Hospital Assn. also was named in one of the dismissed lawsuits.
Judge Ann Montgomery with the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota said the patients attempted to build their cases on "a flawed foundation." They argued that because the federal government gave the hospitals a tax-exempt status, the facilities had an obligation to provide charitable care to uninsured patients who cannot pay for hospital services.
"There is no legal support to bolster [the] plaintiffs' theory of liability," the court said.
The proposed class-action lawsuits were two of dozens filed across the country. The Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation -- a federal group of judges that decides whether to place similar lawsuits into one courtroom -- in 2004 rejected a request to transfer all of the cases to a single U.S. district court.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2005/02/21/gvbf0221.htm.
