States | Consumers for Quality Care

Tennessee Hospital Monopoly Continues to Fail Consumers

Consumers for Quality Care, December 17, 2024

The country’s largest state-sanctioned hospital monopoly is facing continued calls for reform as consumers increasingly grow wary and fearful about the quality of care being administered, according to KFF Health News. Ballad Health is a large 20-hospital system serving over 1 million residents in northeast Tennessee and southwest...

Hospitals’ Upcoding of Services Results in Billions of Extra Dollars in Profit

Consumers for Quality Care, December 17, 2024

Hospitals are raking in billions of extra dollars from insurers and government programs by cataloguing services and procedures as more serious than they actually are, a practice known as “upcoding,” according to a study conducted by RAND and reported by Axios. Over a nine-year period, the study found...

Medical Billing Errors Add Undue Stress to Patients

Consumers for Quality Care, December 11, 2024

Medical billing errors are a growing issue, causing pain for consumers trying to navigate our complex health care system, according to The Charlotte Ledger. Mary Katherine Snow, a leukemia patient from Cornelius, NC, spent years battling billing mistakes that added stress and financial strain during her cancer treatment. “I’ve...

Hospitals Continue to Fail to Comply with Federal Price Transparency Standards

Consumers for Quality Care, December 11, 2024

Most hospitals across the country are still not compliant with federal price transparency laws, according to a study conducted by Patient Rights Advocate (PRA) and reported by Healthcare Dive. In fact, a smaller percentage of hospitals are in compliance now than when PRA released their last study back in...

PBMs Forcing Kansas City Area Independent Pharmacies to Close

Consumers for Quality Care, November 27, 2024

Around Kansas City, Kansas and across the country, independent pharmacies are shutting their doors due to the anticompetitive practices exerted by the pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) industry, according to KCUR. When Kansas City’s Duschesne Clinic closed this summer, it upended how more than 1,000 patients receive their prescription drugs....

Kansas Family Battles Insurance Denial for Life-Saving Medication

Consumers for Quality Care, November 27, 2024

A Kansas family is fighting their insurance company’s denial of a life-saving drug. According to KWCH, their struggle is a microcosm of a larger issue: how prior authorization inhibits access to care. Although prior authorization is meant to be a cost-control measure, patient advocates suspect that some insurers are...

Insurance Coverage Doesn’t Ensure Access to Care

Consumers for Quality Care, November 27, 2024

Vermont has one of the lowest uninsured rates in the U.S., yet consumers pay some of the highest health-insurance costs in the country and face barriers to receiving the care they need, according to KFF Health News. While state and federal policy makers have put an emphasis on expanding...

Catholic Hospitals Act More Like Corporations Than Charitable Organizations

Consumers for Quality Care, November 27, 2024

Catholic hospitals, like many nonprofit hospitals, are becoming more like big businesses, spending little on charity care while patients struggle to pay for medical care, according to KFF Health News. Increasingly, Catholic hospitals are operating more like big businesses than establishments founded to fulfill its mission of caring for...

Minnesota AG Strikes Deal with Insurer to Ensure Parity in Mental Health Care

Consumers for Quality Care, November 20, 2024

Minnesota’s Attorney General Keith Ellison and Blue Cross Minnesota have come to an agreement guaranteeing that the insurer will cover mental-health or substance-abuse treatments the same way that they cover physical health care, according to The Minnesota Star Tribune. A 2008 federal law requires insurers to cover mental-health...

More North Carolina Hospital Systems Cancel Medical Debt Judgements for Residents

Consumers for Quality Care, November 20, 2024

Four North Carolina hospital systems will join Atrium Health in releasing liens placed on the homes of consumers who owe medical debt, according to The Charlotte Ledger. Gastonia-based CaroMont Health, Asheville-based Mission Health, Sampson Regional in southeastern North Carolina, and Community Health Systems, which owns Lake Norman Regional...

PA Attorney General Sues PE-Backed Hospital System Over Mismanagement, Closures

Consumers for Quality Care, November 20, 2024

Pennsylvania Attorney General Michelle Henry is suing Prospect Medical Holdings and its former parent company, private equity firm Leonard Green, over its failure to provide adequate care for consumers, resulting in two hospital closures, according to Healthcare Dive. Based out of Los Angeles, Prospect Medical has been the subject...

Little Progress Being Made to Address Racial Disparities in Health Care

Consumers for Quality Care, November 13, 2024

Inequalities in America’s health care system still exist for many Black Americans, according to KFF Health News. The “Corridor of Shame” is a rural stretch of 17 poverty-stricken counties in South Carolina largely populated by Black residents. Although Black consumers experience higher rates of chronic medical conditions such...

Lack of Competition for Fort Wayne, Indiana, Hospital Leads to Higher Bills for Consumers

Consumers for Quality Care, November 6, 2024

Fort Wayne, Indiana, is one of the most affordable metro areas in the country. Yet it’s also home to a hospital system that has bought up former competitors, creating a monopoly that makes it one of the most expensive hospital systems in the country, according to The Guardian. Across...

PBMs Cost Indiana’s Taxpayers Billions

Consumers for Quality Care, October 30, 2024

At the request of Indiana state legislators, an audit on the Pharmacy Benefit Manager (PBM) industry found that PBMs cost Hoosiers $7 billion dollars over the course of five years, according to Fox 59. The Indiana General Assembly’s Health Care Cost Oversight Task Force was recently presented the...

Nonprofit Hospitals Amass Billions in Tax Benefits

Consumers for Quality Care, October 16, 2024

A new study conducted by JAMA and reported by Fierce Healthcare is shedding light on the disparities between how much nonprofit hospitals spend on charity care and what they receive in tax breaks. Nonprofit hospitals are required to provide charity care to keep their tax-exempt status, but numerous studies...

Half of Coloradoans Unsure About Cost of Care and How to Fix A Billing Error

Consumers for Quality Care, October 16, 2024

Although most Coloradoans are confident in following a doctor’s direction, they are much less confident about how to find out the cost of their care beforehand or about how to resolve an incorrect medical bill, according to results from the Consumer Healthcare Experience State Survey and reported by The...

Alabama Company Helping Employees Avoid Medical Expenses by Opening Clinic

Consumers for Quality Care, October 9, 2024

A manufacturing company in Alabama is setting a new precedent for how a large company can care for its employees, according to KFF Health News. Founded by a WWII veteran who wanted to turn the massive amount of aluminum produced for the war into window screens, Phifer Incorporated has...

Hospital-Owned Clinics Routinely Add Facility Fees to Consumers’ Bills

Consumers for Quality Care, October 9, 2024

Consumers in North Carolina and across the country are being charged hospital facility fees for services and procedures conducted in clinics and outpatient centers owned by hospital systems, even when those facilities are not located in a hospital building or on a hospital’s campus, according to a joint report...

North Carolina Hospital System Cancels Debt for 11,500 Consumers

Consumers for Quality Care, October 9, 2024

After an NBC News report detailed how Atrium Health pursued patients who owe medical debt, including by placing liens on homes, the hospital system announced it will release these liens, immediately benefitting 11,500 consumers across six states, according to NBC News. This news follows Atrium’s 2022 decision to stop...

Regulators Try to Rein in Tennessee Hospital Monopoly Amid Substandard Care

Consumers for Quality Care, October 9, 2024

The country’s largest state-sanctioned hospital monopoly is facing new calls for reform after patients complained for years about the quality of care, according to KFF Health News. Ballad Health is a large 20-hospital system serving over 1 million residents in northeast Tennessee and southwest Virginia. The system was established...

Catholic Hospitals Not Fulfilling Mission of Providing Charity Care to Consumers in Need

Consumers for Quality Care, October 2, 2024

Catholic hospitals, like many nonprofit hospitals, are becoming more like big businesses, paying executives millions while patients struggle to pay for medical care, according to KFF Health News. Jessica Staten of Bellingham, Washington went to St. Joseph Medical Center to have her kidney stones removed. Despite having health...

Contract Dispute Between Hospital and Insurer Leaves NJ Consumer with $25,000 Medical Bill

Consumers for Quality Care, October 2, 2024

A contract dispute between a hospital and an insurance company left a New Jersey consumer with a $25,000 hospital bill, according to NorthJersey.com. Ray Dietrich had surgery at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York for torn muscles. The surgery was successful, but weeks later, he received a $25,000 bill...

North Carolina Officials Enact Measures to Address Medical Debt Crisis

Consumers for Quality Care, October 2, 2024

Countless stories of consumers falling into medical debt, through no fault of their own, spurred North Carolina officials to try a new approach to erasing billions of dollars in debt, according to KFF Health News. In 2019, Tom Burke was involved in a serious car accident, requiring extensive work...

More than Half of U.S. States Fail to Protect Consumers, Nonprofit Hospital Scorecards Show

Consumers for Quality Care, September 25, 2024

For Immediate Release September 25, 2024 Contact: press@consumers4qualitycare.org More than Half of U.S. States Fail to Protect Consumers, Nonprofit Hospital Scorecards Show Consumers for Quality Care announces #HospitalFail grades for Maine, New Hampshire, and Connecticut, bringing the number of failing states to 34. WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today,...

CQC Nonprofit Hospital Scorecard: Connecticut Nonprofit Hospitals Earn a #HospitalFail

Consumers for Quality Care, September 25, 2024

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE September 25, 2024 Contact: Press@Consumers4QualityCare.org CQC Nonprofit Hospital Scorecard: Connecticut Nonprofit Hospitals Earn a #HospitalFail WASHINGTON, D.C. – Despite being tax-exempt, nonprofit hospitals across the country are making big money at the expense of their patients. CQC developed the Connecticut Nonprofit Hospital Scorecard based on...

CQC Nonprofit Hospital Scorecard: Maine Nonprofit Hospitals Earn a #HospitalFail

Consumers for Quality Care, September 25, 2024

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE September 25, 2024 Contact: Press@Consumers4QualityCare.org CQC Nonprofit Hospital Scorecard: Maine Nonprofit Hospitals Earn a #HospitalFail WASHINGTON, D.C. – Despite being tax-exempt, nonprofit hospitals across the country are making big money at the expense of their patients. CQC developed the Maine Nonprofit Hospital Scorecard based on...

CQC Nonprofit Hospital Scorecard: New Hampshire Nonprofit Hospitals Earn a #HospitalFail

Consumers for Quality Care, September 25, 2024

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE September 25, 2024 Contact: Press@Consumers4QualityCare.org CQC Nonprofit Hospital Scorecard: New Hampshire Nonprofit Hospitals Earn a #HospitalFail WASHINGTON, D.C. – Despite being tax-exempt, nonprofit hospitals across the country are making big money at the expense of their patients. CQC developed the New Hampshire Nonprofit Hospital Scorecard...

FTC Opposes Proposed Indiana Hospital Merger

Consumers for Quality Care, September 25, 2024

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is calling on Indiana officials to block a proposed hospital merger which could result in less competition, higher prices, and worse patient care, according to Healthcare Dive. Two hospitals in Terre Haute, Ind., a community of 58,000, are considering a merger. Terre Haute residents,...

CEO of Failed Hospital System Raked in Massive Profits

Consumers for Quality Care, September 18, 2024

Steward Health, a hospital system once backed by private equity, filed for bankruptcy this year and has begun closing hospitals and laying off thousands of employees in multiple states. Nonetheless, Steward’s CEO has collected more than $100 million in compensation, according to USA Today. Since filing for bankruptcy in...

States Aim to Stifle Private Equity’s Involvement in Health Care System

Consumers for Quality Care, September 4, 2024

Lawmakers in two states – California and Massachusetts – want to slow private equity’s expansion into health care, The Wall Street Journal reports. Often, when private equity firms acquire hospitals, their primary ambition is to turn a profit. These firms often load the hospitals up with debt, charge them...

Indiana Nonprofit Hospitals Sue Consumers Over Medical Debt but Spend Little on Charity Care

Consumers for Quality Care, August 28, 2024

Nonprofit hospitals in Indiana continue to use predatory debt-collection practices against consumers, even those who owe as little as $250. Meanwhile, charity-care spending at these hospitals has stagnated, according to a report by the Indiana Capital Chronicle, even as revenue continues to go up. In 2020, Patrick Lopez had...

Most Coloradoans Skip or Delay Medical Care Due to Cost

Consumers for Quality Care, August 28, 2024

A study conducted by the Colorado Consumer Health Initiative, and reported by Colorado Public Radio, found that two-thirds of respondents have skipped or delayed medical care in the last year because of cost. Another 75 percent of consumers reported a health-affordability issue in the same period. These findings are...

Rhode Island Attorney General Fights Back Against Proposed Health Insurance Premium Hikes

Consumers for Quality Care, August 28, 2024

In Rhode Island, six insurance companies are asking for permission to raise premiums next year, but Rhode Island’s Attorney General, Peter Neronha, is calling on the state’s Health Insurance Commissioner to deny these requests, according to the Rhode Island Current. In his letter to Health Insurance Commissioner Cory King,...

Biden Administration Approves North Carolina Plan to Eliminate Medical Debt

Consumers for Quality Care, August 21, 2024

Two million North Carolinians will have their medical debt forgiven under a plan recently approved by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), according to Axios. The plan is just one part of the Biden administration’s broader effort to address the harms of medical debt for consumers nationwide....

Montana Looks to Increase Transparency for Nonprofit Hospital Charity Care Standards

Consumers for Quality Care, August 14, 2024

The Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services (DPHHS) is working to learn more about the level of charity care and community benefits nonprofit hospitals are providing in exchange for their tax-exempt status, according to KFF Health News. As part of the new proposed guidelines, the state DPHHS...

Prior Authorization Hurts Health Care Outcomes

Consumers for Quality Care, July 24, 2024

Prior authorization is making it needlessly difficult for consumers to get the medical care they need, according to the HeraldNet. Although prior authorization is meant to be a cost-cutting measure, patient advocates suspect that some insurers are abusing it to deny patient care. Robin Sparks, 61, of Marysville, Washington...

CQC Nonprofit Hospital Scorecard: Arizona Nonprofit Hospitals Earn a #HospitalFail

Consumers for Quality Care, July 24, 2024

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE July 24, 2024 Contact: Press@Consumers4QualityCare.org CQC Nonprofit Hospital Scorecard: Arizona Nonprofit Hospitals Earn a #HospitalFail WASHINGTON, D.C. – Despite being tax-exempt, nonprofit hospitals across the country are making big money at the expense of their patients. CQC developed the Arizona Nonprofit Hospital Scorecard based on...

CQC Nonprofit Hospital Scorecard: Massachusetts Nonprofit Hospitals Earn a #HospitalFail

Consumers for Quality Care, July 24, 2024

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE July 24, 2024 Contact: Press@Consumers4QualityCare.org CQC Nonprofit Hospital Scorecard: Massachusetts Nonprofit Hospitals Earn a #HospitalFail WASHINGTON, D.C. – Despite being tax-exempt, nonprofit hospitals across the country are making big money at the expense of their patients. CQC developed the Massachusetts Nonprofit Hospital Scorecard based on...

Ohioan Shares Story of Crippling Medical Debt Caused by Emergency Surgery

Consumers for Quality Care, July 17, 2024

Jonathan Kershaw, a Columbus resident, recently penned a column in The Columbus Dispatch about how his emergency gallbladder removal surgery resulted in a $76,000 bill, forcing him to move out of his residence and file for bankruptcy. After complaining of stomach pains last year, doctors determined that Kershaw needed...

Primary Care Physician Experiences Issues Navigating Medical Billing Loophole

Consumers for Quality Care, July 10, 2024

Dr. Danielle Ofri, a primary care doctor in New York, recently chronicled her experience with how doctor’ offices and urgent care centers owned by hospital systems can lead to exorbitant, unexpected medical bills, in a guest column published by The New York Times. Dr. Ofri took her daughter...

Hospital Price Increases Lead to Job Loss

Consumers for Quality Care, July 8, 2024

A study published by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), and reported by The Wall Street Journal and Axios, found a correlation between soaring hospital prices and job loss, specifically price increases that resulted after a health care merger took place. Most Americans get health insurance through their...

Proposed Indiana Hospital Merger Threatens Access to Quality Care

Consumers for Quality Care, July 8, 2024

A recently enacted state law in Indiana may lead to an increase in proposed hospital mergers, according to KFF Health News. The executives pushing these mergers often promise better care and lower costs for patients, but data shows that hospital mergers often result in the opposite: less competition, higher...

New York Health System No Longer Sues Consumers with Medical Debt

Consumers for Quality Care, July 8, 2024

Although many hospitals are engaging in predatory, anti-patient practices meant to pad their bottom line while enriching their executives, Rochester Regional Health in New York has instituted policies that put consumers first, according to reporting from KFF Health News. Rochester Regional refuses to engage in aggressive debt collection...

Private Equity-Owned Hospital in New Mexico Denying Patients Cancer Treatment 

Consumers for Quality Care, June 26, 2024

A dozen cancer patients are accusing Memorial Medical Center in New Mexico, a for-profit, private equity-backed hospital, of denying them critical cancer care, according to an investigative report by NBC News. Barbara Quarrell worked as a nurse at Memorial Medical Center for decades, when it was a nonprofit hospital...

Tennessee Hospital Monopoly Falling Short on Quality

Consumers for Quality Care, June 20, 2024

Ballad Health is a large 20-hospital system serving over 1 million residents in northeast Tennessee and southwest Virginia. The system was established six years ago, when Tennessee and Virginia lawmakers agreed to waive anti-monopoly laws. But in exchange for this waiver, Ballad agreed to uphold quantitative measures of quality...

PBM Industry’s Anti-Competitive Practices Hurting Independent Pharmacies in Oregon

Consumers for Quality Care, June 20, 2024

Independent and family-owned pharmacies across Oregon are struggling to stay in business due to monopolistic practices of pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), according to OregonLive.  Brooklyn Pharmacy, owned by Pat Hubbell in southeast Portland, is one of the few remaining independent pharmacies in Oregon. As a pharmacist, Hubbell provides a...

Independent Pharmacies in Pennsylvania Continue to Face Challenges from PBM Business Practices

Consumers for Quality Care, June 20, 2024

Independent pharmacies throughout Pennsylvania are struggling to stay in business, thanks to the monopolistic practices of pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), according to Pennsylvania Capital-Star.  Bob Schreiber of Morrisville opened Burns Pharmacy in 1977. His business was a fixture in the community, and he ran it successfully for decades until...

CQC Nonprofit Hospital Scorecard: Delaware Nonprofit Hospitals Earn a #HospitalFail

Consumers for Quality Care, June 18, 2024

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE June 18, 2024 Contact: Press@Consumers4QualityCare.org CQC Nonprofit Hospital Scorecard: Delaware Nonprofit Hospitals Earn a #HospitalFail WASHINGTON, D.C. – Despite being tax-exempt, nonprofit hospitals across the country are making big money at the expense of their patients. CQC developed the Delaware Nonprofit Hospital Scorecard based on recent...

Los Angeles County Showcases a New and Aggressive Approach to Medical Debt 

Consumers for Quality Care, June 12, 2024

The most populous county in the country, Los Angeles County, is debuting a new approach for handling medical debt, a nearly $3 billion problem in the county, according to KFF Health News.  The County’s Department of Public Health, led by Director Barbara Ferrer, has been working for over a...

Consumers in Kansas County Devastated by Lawsuits Over Medical Debt

Consumers for Quality Care, June 12, 2024

A small hospital in rural Kansas ramped up its filing of debt-collection lawsuits against the residents of a 9,000-person county last year, according to The Wall Street Journal. Toward the end of the year, Pratt Regional Medical sued some 400 consumers that owed medical debt. The center was...

CAAPs Prevent Utah Consumers from Affording Life-Saving Medication 

Consumers for Quality Care, June 12, 2024

Consumers with chronic illnesses in Utah continue to deal with insurance providers using copay accumulator adjustment programs, CAAPs, to block access to life-saving medications, according to KSTU.  Vince Massa has battled Crohn’s disease for nearly thirty years and uses many different types of medication to keep his condition under...

CQC Nonprofit Hospital Scorecard: Rhode Island Nonprofit Hospitals Earn a #HospitalFail

Consumers for Quality Care, June 6, 2024

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE June 6, 2024 Contact: Press@Consumers4QualityCare.org CQC Nonprofit Hospital Scorecard: Rhode Island Nonprofit Hospitals Earn a #HospitalFail WASHINGTON, D.C. – Despite being tax-exempt, nonprofit hospitals across the country are making big money at the expense of their patients. CQC developed the Rhode Island Nonprofit Hospital Scorecard...

Southern States Fail to Expand Medicaid

Consumers for Quality Care, June 5, 2024

Despite renewed interest earlier in the year from southern U.S. states to expand Medicaid, states like Alabama, Georgia, and Mississippi ended their state legislative sessions without doing so, according to NPR. Mississippi was one of ten states that opted again not to expand Medicaid coverage this year, even...

Many Wisconsin Nonprofit Hospitals Spend Less on Charity Care Than They Receive in Tax Breaks

Consumers for Quality Care, June 5, 2024

According to UpNorthNews, many nonprofit hospitals in Wisconsin continue to see their profits increase and their cash reserves grow but are spending less on charity care and community investments than what they receive in tax breaks. Though nonprofit hospitals enjoyed over $28 billion in tax exemptions nationally in...

UnitedHealthcare Fined for Failing to Ensure Parity in Mental Health Care

Consumers for Quality Care, June 5, 2024

UnitedHealthcare was recently fined $450 million by the Minnesota Department of Commerce for not properly reimbursing consumers for mental health care, according to Minnesota Reformer. State law requires insurers to cover treatments and care for mental health just as they would for any other condition, meaning that consumers cannot...

Hospitals Are Forcing Consumers to Pay Before Receiving Care

Consumers for Quality Care, May 29, 2024

Many hospitals and medical providers are now requiring consumers to pay in advance before receiving medical care, according to The Wall Street Journal.  Heather Miconi’s daughter, Trista, needed to have adenoid and tonsil surgery to ease her breathing. Before the surgery, Merritt Island Surgery Center in Florida billed Miconi...

CQC Nonprofit Hospital Scorecard: Kansas Nonprofit Hospitals Earn a #HospitalFail

Consumers for Quality Care, May 15, 2024

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE May 15, 2024 Contact: Press@Consumers4QualityCare.org CQC Nonprofit Hospital Scorecard: Kansas Nonprofit Hospitals Earn a #HospitalFail WASHINGTON, D.C. – Despite being tax-exempt, nonprofit hospitals across the country are making big money at the expense of their patients. The Kansas Hospital Scorecard was created based on recent...

CQC Nonprofit Hospital Scorecard: Minnesota Nonprofit Hospitals Earn a #HospitalFail

Consumers for Quality Care, May 15, 2024

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE May 15, 2024 Contact: Press@Consumers4QualityCare.org CQC Nonprofit Hospital Scorecard: Minnesota Nonprofit Hospitals Earn a #HospitalFail WASHINGTON, D.C. – Despite being tax-exempt, nonprofit hospitals across the country are making big money at the expense of their patients. CQC developed the Minnesota Nonprofit Hospital Scorecard based on...

NC Treasurer Supports FTC Blocking Large Health System Purchase

Consumers for Quality Care, May 8, 2024

North Carolina Treasurer Dale Folwell is supporting the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) effort to block Novant Health’s $320 million proposal to buy two Community Health Systems hospitals, according to Fierce Healthcare. Folwell has been a leading voice against health care mergers, which often decrease competition, raise the cost of...

Colorado Lawmakers Take Aim at UCHealth’s Deceptive Debt-Collection Practices

Consumers for Quality Care, May 1, 2024

State lawmakers in Colorado have introduced legislation that would prohibit all entities, including health care systems, from obscuring their own name when they use third-party debt-collection agencies to sue consumers over outstanding debts, according to The Colorado Sun. This bill was filed in response to The Colorado Sun’s...

Medicaid Expansion Gains Traction in Republican-Dominated Mississippi

Consumers for Quality Care, May 1, 2024

Republican legislators in Mississippi are exploring a proposal to expand Medicaid in order to provide coverage for more residents, Axios reports. For years, Republicans rejected the idea of embracing the Affordable Care Act (ACA). But now, as more than 40 percent of rural hospitals in the state face closure...

Consumers in Toledo, Ohio to Have Medical Debt Eliminated

Consumers for Quality Care, May 1, 2024

Residents in Toledo, Ohio are the latest to have their medical debt wiped away, according to WTOL, the CBS affiliate in Toledo.  To provide this debt relief, the nonprofit organization RIP Medical Debt was contracted to negotiate with ProMedica, a local health care system, to buy Toledo residents’ medical...

Private Equity’s Involvement in Health Care Raises Alarms, Prompts Legislative Response

Consumers for Quality Care, April 24, 2024

According to Axios, lawmakers are investigating private equity’s effect on health care, citing concerns about gaps in federal oversight and the decline in patient care standards observed in numerous hospitals following private equity investments. Earlier this month, U.S. Senator Ed Markey (D-MA) held a hearing with federal and state...

PBM Industry’s Anti-Competitive Practices Hurting Independent Pharmacies in Pittsburgh

Consumers for Quality Care, April 24, 2024

Independent pharmacies in the Pittsburgh metro area are struggling to stay in business, owing to the monopolistic practices of pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), according to KDKA, the CBS affiliate in Pittsburgh. Across the country, more than 300 independent pharmacies have permanently closed in the past three months. Nearly thirty...

New Report Highlights Increasing Use of Facility Fees as “Clear Profit-Gambits” 

Consumers for Quality Care, April 24, 2024

A new report by U.S. PIRG Education Fund, a nonprofit consumer protection organization, sheds light on how facility fees are increasingly used as “clear profit-gambits” that take advantage of consumers, according to Fierce Healthcare. Hospital-owned clinics are more likely than doctor-owned clinics to charge facility fees for providing the...

Majority of Nonprofit Hospitals Spend Less on Charity Care Than They Receive in Tax Breaks

Consumers for Quality Care, April 17, 2024

In 2021, most private nonprofit hospitals in the United States spent less on charity care and community investments than they received in tax breaks. According to Healthcare Dive, a report from the Lown Institute found that 80 percent of the nonprofit hospitals they investigated had accumulated fair share deficits...

Health Care Merger Results in Longer ER Wait Times in the Tri-Cities Area

Consumers for Quality Care, April 17, 2024

A study conducted by the Tennessee Department of Health, and reported by KFF Health News, found that in the six years since Ballad Health became a 20-hospital system behemoth, ER wait times for consumers have more than tripled. In 2018, Tennessee and Virginia lawmakers waived antitrust laws to...

Consumer Charged Hundreds by Hospital for a Routine Preventive Colonoscopy

Consumers for Quality Care, April 9, 2024

An Indiana hospital charged a woman hundreds of dollars for a routine preventive-care colonoscopy that she believed would be covered by her insurance, according to WVPE, an NPR affiliate in northern Indiana. Karen Campbell, 46, a local news reporter, followed her doctor’s recommendation to get a colonoscopy screening,...

New Laws in Colorado Address the Burden of Medical Debt 

Consumers for Quality Care, April 9, 2024

Although Colorado has become a national leader in advancing policies meant to lessen the burden of medical debt for residents, lawmakers are hoping to do even more, according to The Denver Post. Last year, Colorado became the first state to prohibit medical debt from being included on consumer credit...

22,000 Ingham County, Michigan Households to Have Medical Debt Eliminated

Consumers for Quality Care, April 9, 2024

The Ingham County Board of Commissioners recently announced a partnership with the nonprofit organization RIP Medical Debt to bring immediate financial relief to thousands of residents carrying medical debt, according to WILX, the NBC affiliate in Lansing. Armed with a budget surplus this year, the commissioners voted to allocate...

Michigan State Legislature Partners with Nonprofit to Eliminate Medical Debt

Consumers for Quality Care, April 3, 2024

This year, the Michigan state budget includes a $4.5 million appropriation that is estimated to provide $450 million in medical debt relief for 180,000 state residents. This debt relief will come as part of a partnership between the state and the nonprofit organization RIP Medical Debt, according to Michigan...

Medical Debt Collection Company Violated Consumers’ Rights, Ordered to Pay $800K

Consumers for Quality Care, April 3, 2024

Washington state recently scored a huge victory against a medical-debt collection company, which must now pay more than $800,000 for violating the patients’ rights against unfair collection practices, according to NBC Right Now. This case wraps up Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson’s investigation and lawsuit against the Providence hospital...

MA Hospital System in Peril Due to Private Equity Firm’s Involvement

Consumers for Quality Care, April 3, 2024

A private equity firm’s controlling stake in a struggling Massachusetts hospital chain has left the system in worse shape after ten years of ownership. Today, the hospital system is still dealing with the fallout, according to Axios. Cerberus Capital Management took over Steward Health in 2010 and continued...

CQC Nonprofit Hospital Scorecard: Colorado Nonprofit Hospitals Earn a #HospitalFail

Consumers for Quality Care, April 2, 2024

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE April 2, 2024 Contact: Press@Consumers4QualityCare.org CQC Nonprofit Hospital Scorecard: Colorado Nonprofit Hospitals Earn a #HospitalFail WASHINGTON, D.C. – Despite being tax-exempt, nonprofit hospitals across the country are making big money at the expense of their patients. The Colorado Hospital Scorecard was created based on recent...

CQC Nonprofit Hospital Scorecard: Oklahoma Nonprofit Hospitals Earn a #HospitalFail

Consumers for Quality Care, March 26, 2024

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE March 26, 2024 Contact: Press@Consumers4QualityCare.org CQC Nonprofit Hospital Scorecard: Oklahoma Nonprofit Hospitals Earn a #HospitalFail WASHINGTON, D.C. – Despite being tax-exempt, nonprofit hospitals across the country are making big money at the expense of their patients. The Oklahoma Hospital Scorecard was created based on recent...

CQC Nonprofit Hospital Scorecard: Texas Nonprofit Hospitals Earn a #HospitalFail

Consumers for Quality Care, March 26, 2024

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE March 26, 2024 Contact: Press@Consumers4QualityCare.org CQC Nonprofit Hospital Scorecard: Texas Nonprofit Hospitals Earn a #HospitalFail WASHINGTON, D.C. – Despite being tax-exempt, nonprofit hospitals across the country are making big money at the expense of their patients. The Texas Hospital Scorecard was created based on recent...

Former US Surgeon General’s Own Medical Experience Highlights the High Cost of Health Care and Need for Price Transparency

Consumers for Quality Care, March 20, 2024

An emergency room visit for dehydration resulted in a $5,000 bill, coming as a shock to the consumer that received this bill, former U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams, according to Business Insider. Now, Adams is drawing attention to a health care system he calls “broken.” Adams recently went...

Hospitals Still Failing to Comply with Federal Price Transparency Standards

Consumers for Quality Care, March 20, 2024

Most hospitals across the country are still not compliant with federal price transparency laws, according to a study conducted by Patient Rights Advocate (PRA) and reported by Healthcare Dive. In fact, a smaller percentage of hospitals are in compliance now than when PRA released their last study in July...

New Jersey Consumer Faces Health Care “Perfect Storm”, Resulting in a $225,000 Bill

Consumers for Quality Care, March 13, 2024

A New Jersey woman spent over six years fighting a $225,000 hospital bill for a pacemaker according to NorthJersey.com. Seiko Bando was admitted to the emergency department at Christ Hospital in 2016 when it was discovered during a routine annual exam that she immediately needed a pacemaker. The procedure...

Consumers Caught in the Middle of Contract Disputes Between Insurers and Providers

Consumers for Quality Care, March 6, 2024

A recent contract dispute between a major insurer and a health system in California put consumers in peril, causing them to be unsure if there would be disruptions with their health insurance or future medical care, according to KFF Health News. These occurrences are expected to become more frequent...

Colorado’s Largest Hospital System Utilizes Third-Party Agencies to Carry Out Predatory Debt Collection Practices

Consumers for Quality Care, March 6, 2024

A 9News/Colorado Sun investigation done in collaboration with the Colorado News Collaborative and KFF Health News found that for the last four years, UCHealth, Colorado’s largest nonprofit hospital system, has utilized a network of debt collection agencies to sue consumers over outstanding medical expenses, a practice that is considered...

Insurance Company Practice Prevents Utah Consumer From Affording Live-Saving Medication

Consumers for Quality Care, March 6, 2024

A cancer patient in Utah can no longer afford medication that keeps her cancer from progressing because of an insurance company practice that doesn’t credit payments made by drug manufacturers through copay assistant programs towards a consumer’s copay, according to Deseret News. For patients with chronic illnesses who require...

States and Counties Partner with Nonprofit to Eliminate Medical Debt 

Consumers for Quality Care, February 28, 2024

Residents in Alabama and in Wayne County, Michigan will see their medical debt eliminated, according to reporting by The Hill and Bridge Detroit. RIP Medical Debt operates by negotiating with health care providers to buy medical debt for a fraction of the cost. To maximize the value of...

Pennsylvania Allocates $4 Million to Cancel State Residents’ Medical Debt

Consumers for Quality Care, February 28, 2024

Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro recently unveiled a plan to tackle medical debt in the Commonwealth, WHYY reports. Unpaid medical bills constitute the largest share of debt collections in the United States. The situation is particularly acute in Pennsylvania, where an estimated one million residents collectively owe $1.8 billion...

Inconsistent Compliance with Federal Price Transparency Rules Found Among Colorado Hospitals

Consumers for Quality Care, February 28, 2024

This month, the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing released a report showing that many hospitals in the state are likely not in compliance with federal price-transparency rules, according to The Denver Post. These federal rules consist mainly of two requirements: that hospitals publish price information online...

Providence Settlement Reveals Deep-Seated Issues in Nonprofit Hospitals

Consumers for Quality Care, February 21, 2024

A recent settlement between Providence, a sprawling 14-hospital health system, and the Washington Attorney General is shining a light on the dubious practices of nonprofit hospitals, according to Healthcare Dive. In what is being hailed as the “largest resolution of its kind in the country,” the agreement exposes...

Independent Pharmacies Closing as PBMs Continue Anti-Consumer Practices  

Consumers for Quality Care, February 21, 2024

Independent pharmacies in rural communities around the country are closing, due to the monopolistic practices of pharmacy benefit managers, also known as PBMs. This wave of closures has hurt small cities and rural areas in both Kansas and Kentucky, according to reports by NPR Kansas and WKYT. There are...

Connecticut Governor Lamont Unveils Historic $650 Million Medical Debt Cancellation

Consumers for Quality Care, February 21, 2024

In a historic move, Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont has announced the cancellation of approximately $650 million in medical debt for 250,000 residents, making Connecticut the first state to provide such sweeping relief. This groundbreaking initiative, as reported by CNN, addresses the financial strain caused by unforeseen health care...