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Bills Sent to Jefferson Regional Medical Center Patients May Be Erroneous

Posted on: Friday, 10 March 2006, 00:00 CST

By Christopher Snowbeck, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Mar. 10--Jefferson Regional Medical Center says it has received more than 1,000 phone calls in the past week from patients receiving unexpected bills from a collection agency, and the state attorney general is investigating to determine whether the bills are erroneous.

The hospital in Jefferson Hills won a court order Tuesday from an Allegheny County judge that directs EData Financial Services LLC to immediately cease all efforts to collect professional fees for services rendered to Jefferson Regional patients. The order is in effect until a hearing scheduled for Wednesday.

Hospital officials announced late Friday that they were fielding a large volume of calls from patients who had received diagnostic imaging services performed at the medical center between August 2004 and December 2005. The bills for X-rays, MRIs, CT scans and sonograms were sent on behalf of Penn Imaging PC, an independent radiology group that was affiliated with Jefferson until last year.

At the time, the medical center questioned the accuracy of the bills; a spokeswoman said the collection agency also was adding a $15 processing fee.

But Steven Baicker-McKee, an attorney for the radiology group, said his client was not actively directing the collection agency to send the bills. When Penn Imaging lost its contract with the hospital last year and the company went out of business, it handed accounts receivable to the collection agency, said Mr. Baicker-McKee.

Officials with EData Financial Services LLC, which the hospital has said is based in Ohio, could not be reached for comment.

The state attorney general has received more than 70 consumer complaints about the situation, said spokeswoman Barb Petito. Consumers wishing to lodge a complaint may call 1-877-888-4877, or go to www.attorneygeneral.gov and fill out a special complaint form for the attorney general's health care section.

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Source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

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