Gov. Martin O'Malley says he supports legislation to correct "abusive billing and collection practices" by some Maryland hospitals, while expanding health care and financial assistance for lower-income patients.
The governor spoke Friday in Baltimore as his administration released a report that recommends defining who is eligible for free and reduced-price hospital care, requiring hospitals to provide financial assistance information to all patients, and banning hospitals and their collection agencies from charging the uninsured interest and penalties on bills before court judgments are entered against them.
"These reforms will help secure expanded access to quality hospital care to more people rather than fewer, without fear of financial ruin," O'Malley said.
The first-term Democratic governor ordered the report by the Health Services Cost Review Commission in response to an eight-month investigation by The Baltimore Sun that documented how hospitals were aggressively pursing collection of unpaid bills from patients of limited means even though those debts are supposed to be recovered in the rates they charge.
The Sun series, "In Their Debt," found that hospital debt collection lawsuits spiked sharply between 2003 and 2006 before falling slightly in 2007. In all, hospitals filed more than 132,000 of these suits over five years and won at least $100 million in judgments.
The Maryland Hospital Association says it supports most of the proposals outlined in the report to the governor.
Banning prejudgment interest and penalties "strengthens the process," said hospital association spokeswoman Nancy Fiedler, and the trade group is "comfortable" with requiring its members to provide details about the availability of financial assistance.
In 2005, the association and state regulators successfully fought provisions in a bill that would have required hospitals to give charity care applications to patients.
On Friday, Del. Peter A. Hammen, a Baltimore Democrat who is chairman of the House Health and Government Operations Committee, introduced a bill to require hospitals to provide free care to all Maryland residents whose incomes are less than 1 1/2 times the federal poverty level, which would equal $33,075 for a family of four. It is similar to a bill introduced earlier last week by Sen. George W. Della, a Democrat who represents South Baltimore.
