KING COUNTY, Wash. — Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson has filed a consumer protection lawsuit against 14 Providence and Swedish-affiliated health care facilities.
The lawsuit is for “failing to ensure that eligible low-income Washingtonians receive the discounts to which they are legally entitled, and aggressively collecting money from charity care eligible low-income Washingtonians.”
The state’s charity care law requires hospitals to provide free and discounted care for income-eligible patients. The law protects both insured and uninsured patients.
The lawsuit claims that the hospitals committed thousands of violations, including:
- Training employees to aggressively collect payment without regard for a patient’s eligibility for financial assistance, instructing them to use a specific script when communicating with patients that gives patients the impression that they are expected to pay for their care. Providence instructed employees: “don’t accept the first no”;
- Failing to notify patients they were eligible for charity care financial assistance when the providers determined they qualified for assistance;
- And sending more than 54,000 patient accounts to debt collection, despite knowing the patients were eligible for financial assistance.
Ferguson said the accounts sent to debt collection carried a total amount of more than $70 million. The lawsuit claims, "under its own charity care policies that Providence promoted, these patients should have been eligible for full write-offs of their medical debt.”
The AG’s office said the hospitals have been illegally collecting payment since 2018 and claima much of the conduct continues now.
The lawsuit seeks full write-off of medical debt, refunds, plus interest for patients who did not get financial assistance. Ferguson is also seeking millions of dollars in civil penalties.
Providence provided KREM 2 with the following statement on the lawsuit, stating in part:
"The Providence family of organizations is extremely disappointed that the Office of the Washington State Attorney General has chosen to file inaccurate and unfair charges against us regarding our charity care and financial assistance practices. Serving every person who comes to us, regardless of ability to pay, is a central tenet of our mission as a not-for-profit organization. We take this responsibility seriously.
"While we strongly disagree with the allegations in this complaint, we’ll continue to support policies that expand access to charity care and make health care more accessible to vulnerable patients. Providence has actively partnered with the Washington State Hospital Association to support the charity care bill currently in front of the Washington state legislature, as proposed by the AG.
We look forward to defending ourselves in court. In the meantime, because this is pending litigation, we are not commenting further at this time."
If you paid for medical services, or are in collections for a medical bill from Providence, Swedish, or Kadlec Regional Medical Center, and believe you are eligible for charity care, the AG’s office wants to hear from you. Contact Attorney General’s Office Investigator Bau Vang at 206-516-2989 or by email at bau.vang@atg.wa.gov.
Locations included in the lawsuit
Non-profit Swedish Health Services operates two hospitals in Seattle, as well as facilities in Ballard, Issaquah, and Edmonds.
Providence Health & Services Washington’s eight non-profit locations include:
- Providence Holy Family Hospital in Spokane
- Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center in Spokane
- Providence Centralia Hospital in Centralia
- Providence St. Joseph Hospital in Chewelah
- Providence Mount Carmel Hospital in Colville
- Providence Regional Medical Center in Everett
- Providence St. Peter Hospital in Olympia
- Providence St. Mary Medical Center in Walla Walla
Kadlec is located in Richland. All 14 of the hospitals operate under the national nonprofit health system Providence St. Joseph Health, which is based in King County.