Atrium Health, a leading medical debt collector, has (quietly) stopped suing patients

This policy change, which was not publicly announced, aligns with the health system’s merger with Advocate Aurora Health, forming the nation’s fifth largest non-profit health care system.

Atrium Health, North Carolina’s top collector of medical debt in recent years, has stopped suing patients for unpaid medical bills.

For the past five and a half years North Carolina hospitals brought 5,922 lawsuits against about 7,500 patients and their families, according to published reports. And the courts, in 3,449 cases, favored the hospitals, which amounted to a total of $57.3 million in debt collection or about $16,623 per judgment spanning from January 2017 to June 2022.

Researchers from Duke University School of Law and North Carolina’s Office of State Treasurer Fund wrote in a report that: “Our findings raise first-order questions about the efficacy of our legal system in resolving financial debts with notice and fairness, and they require direct discussions about the roles we expect hospitals, especially non-profit hospitals, to play in our economy, health policy and society.”

Much of the volume was driven by “a small subset” of the state’s hospitals, with the researchers noting that 96.5% of the study period’s collection actions were filed by just five hospital systems that controlled 18.5% of the state’s total hospital beds as of 2021:

But Atrium Health has had a change of heart. The move was praised by critics like Corine Mack, president of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg NAACP, who said: “When people are sick, the last thing they need to be concerned about is whether they are going to be sued for simply trying to get the help they need to stay alive,” Mack said. “Think of how hypocritical that is for a non-profit to be suing people.”

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For its part, Atrium released a statement stating: “Atrium Health is continuously evaluating how we can best serve our patients and ensure equity in access to high quality care for all members of our communities. As part of our journey in making health care more affordable, and in advance of our combination (with Advocate Aurora), we stopped filing liens in November 2022 as a means of collecting unpaid debts owed by patients.”

Reportedly, Atrium Health stopped filing liens for unpaid debts in November 2022, prior to its merger with Advocate Aurora Health, forming the nation’s fifth largest non-profit health care system. Atrium’s billing and collections policy was updated Oct. 1.

Atrium’s medical lawsuit reversal, however, is not retroactive. Court records reviewed by The Charlotte Ledger/NC Health News show that Atrium is still seeking payment in cases where patients still have judgements or liens against them.

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