Minnesota health systems accept pricing, collection agreements

Healthcare Financial Management, June, 2005

Four health systems signed an agreement with Minnesota Attorney General Mike Hatch over hospital pricing and debt collection practices. The systems are Allina Health System, North Memorial Health Care, Park Nicollet Health Services, and HealthEast Care System. The Minnesota Hospital Association, which helped broker the agreement, is encouraging all hospitals in the state to adopt the agreement.

The agreement establishes a price cap for the uninsured that would guarantee those with household incomes at or below $125,000 the same discount that hospitals give their largest commercial insurer. The health systems also agreed to standardized collection practices, including a zero tolerance policy for abusive debt collection conduct. The agreement, when combined with a prior agreement with Fairview Health Services, affects approximately 50 percent of Minnesota's hospital capacity.

To read the Minnesota Hospital Association report of the agreement, go to www.mnhospital.org/index/news and search for "billing and collections practices."