Yale New-Haven Health Systems:Bad Debt on The Move?
Last March, 1199SEIU Researcher Grace Rollins wrote a report which focused national media attention on the debt collection practices of Yale-New Haven Hospital. The report, "Uncharitable Care" both investigated individual cases of fraudulent and inhumane debt collection practices on the part of the hospital and looked at the hospital's debt collection practices in a more systemic framework, revealing that the New Haven Advocate's "Hospital of The Year had in fact put 11,000 people in debt and taken out 925 liens on poor people's houses since 1994. Bridgeport Hospital is part of Yale New- Haven Health Systems. It uses the same collection law firm as YNHH and the Yale Medical School- the now notorious Tobin & Melien. The Connecticut Center For A New Economy's new report, Coming To A Town Near You, also by Rollins, describes what happened to Bridgeport Hospital after Yale New-Haven took over. Since the merger in 1996, BH has taken out 88% more liens than in the comparable period before the merger. Sound familiar? In the past three years, they've also been increasingly using the law firm Tobin & Melien for collections, and they outsource collections from uninsured patients to Yale New Haven Health systems. The report details the difficulties of applying for free care at the hospital, and notes that while the other major hospital in Bridgeport, St. Vincent's, only filed 1 collections case in superior court between Jan '01 and July '03. Bridgeport Hospital filed 421. The disparity in the number of liens each hospital has taken on patient's houses is similarly staggering. St. Vincent's free bed funds are less than three percent the size of Bridgeport Hospitals, yet St Vincent's Hospital generally spends far more in free care, according to the report. The research, done by Senior SEIU field Researcher Jane Hunter together with Rollins, situates Bridgeport Hospital's unconscionable behavior in it's takeover by Yale-New Haven Health Systems. Rollins writes,
"Community leaders and advocates for the uninsured should be wary of the Yale-New Haven Health System’s
expansion until thorough and transparent charity and collection reforms are enacted and mechanisms of accountability are in place. And, in any context, health care advocates should carefully scrutinize the charity record of hospitals that
seek new network affiliations, mergers or acquisitions." In June, the Association of Yale Alumni named Joe Zaccagnino (CEO of Yale New Haven Health Systems) the most distinguished alumnus of the Year. It's great to see that my university not only exploits poor people, but pats itself on the back for doing it. This is exactly what we are fighting against.  ¶ 5:09 PM