The Nashville-based corporation also returned all of its COVID relief funding.Īn investigation by CNN found Community Health Systems sued at least 19,000 patients during the pandemic, though the number is likely an undercount given the lawsuits filed on behalf of its former hospitals. And the company didn't let the pandemic slow that plan, even though it received more than $700 million from the federal government in its own COVID-19 relief money.Ī spokesperson for HCA Healthcare, the largest for-profit hospital chain in the country, says its hospitals do not sue patients over unpaid medical debt - during the pandemic or otherwise. Community Health Systems' debt problemĬourt records indicate Community Health Systems stepped up filing lawsuits against patients in 2015 at the same time the company's stock price plummeted over concerns about its outsize corporate debt.Īside from a hospital fire sale, Community Health Systems also aggressively went after patients. "I don't have the resources and emotional and mental capacity to handle anything more than just kind of rolling over and handing over whatever amount of money they would be happy with," she says. She couldn't justify trying to find an attorney or fighting a big, publicly traded company that would pursue her for $2,700. She wondered if she really owed all the money or if she qualified for financial assistance since she lost income during the pandemic.īut lawsuits are a rich man's game. When her final pandemic stimulus money dropped into her bank account, Cantwell says she sent it straight to the company that sued her, even though she says she almost felt like the victim of a scam. "At least I have a way to take care of this now." "My mind went immediately to the stimulus payments," she says. When her summons arrived, panic set in for Cantwell. Pandemic pushīut now many of those institutions are like zombie hospitals - little more than a legal entity still taking patients to court even after being sold to new owners that don't sue over medical bills. She was in a holding pattern until the knock on the door from the legal assistant. She wasn't sure what to do since she couldn't come up with all the cash. A law firm representing the former hospital owner demanded payment and threatened to take her to court. She was furloughed from work for three months. It's called Vanderbilt Wilson County Hospital now. She went online to pay but couldn't find the hospital or its payment portal.Ĭantwell did a little Googling and noticed Vanderbilt University Medical Center bought the 245-bed facility around the time of her stay. Nearly a year later, she was in a financial position to start chipping away at the bill. Her insurance covered most of the stay, but it still left her with $2,700 to pay. It started with a hospital visit in May 2019.Ĭantwell was admitted for a short stay at the Tennova Healthcare-Lebanon facility owned at the time by Community Health Systems, a publicly traded company headquartered in Franklin, Tenn.
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