Becker's Hospital Review

8 CFO / FINANCE UVA Health to drop thousands of lawsuits against patients for unpaid bills By Katie Adams U niversity of Virginia Health will wipe out a decades-old back- log of court judgments and liens resulting from lawsuits it brought against patients for unpaid hospital bills, the Charlot- tesville-based health system said April 19. For decades, UVA Health has sued thousands of patients for unpaid bills. Once the health system won a case, it would often seize a patient's wages or home value when it was sold, according to Kaiser Health News. UVA Health said it will release all liens and judgments for patients who are at or below 400 percent of the federal poverty level. Howev- er, most patients who have already surrendered money due to a UVA Health lawsuit or lien will not recoup it. The health system also said it will establish an ombudsperson's office to help patients understand payment options and ensure a fair assess- ment of individual patients' cases. n Billing errors resulted in $23.6M in overpayments to HCA hospital, inspector general finds By Alia Paavola L as Vegas-based Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center, owned by Nashville, Tenn.-based HCA Healthcare, failed to comply with Medicare billing requirements for 54 of 100 inpatient and outpa- tient claims reviewed by the HHS Office of Inspector General, accord- ing to an inspector general's report released March 31. The billing errors found in the sample resulted in overpayments of $999,950 for the audit period of January 2017 to December 2018, ac- cording to the report. Based on review of the 100-claim sample, the report estimates that the Las Vegas hospital received overpayments of at least $23.6 million. The inspector general outlined several recommendations to correct the errors, including that the hospital refund Medicare $23.6 million, identify and return any additional overpayments and improve controls to ensure full compliance with Medicare billing requirements. In written comments to the inspector general, the hospital disagreed with most of the inspector general's findings and recommendations. After reviewing the hospital's comments, the inspector general main- tained the findings. "We strongly disagree with the OIG's audit findings related to our IRF and because we believe the care we provided to our patients was necessary and effective, we will appeal those findings in due course," Todd Sklamberg, CEO of Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center, said in a statement. "We think it unfortunate that the OIG audit process did not take into account the overwhelmingly positive outcomes and the feedback of our patients and their families, all of whom benefited from our IRF services." n • Washington health system blames Cerner for bankruptcy By Ayla Ellison A stria Health's former EHR and revenue cycle vendor is to blame for the health system's bankruptcy and the closure of one of its hos- pitals last year, according to a complaint filed March 22 in bankruptcy court. Astria Health, which operates hospitals in Sunnyside and Toppenish, Wash., filed for Chapter 11 bankrupt- cy in May 2019. At that time, Astria comprised three hospitals. In early 2020, the health system closed its hospital in Yakima, Wash. In its complaint, filed as part of an adversary pro- ceeding in bankruptcy court, Astria claims Cerner and its subsidiary, Cerner RevWorks, made "inten- tional misrepresentations" before entering a contract for EHR and billing services, according to the Yaki- ma Herald. Several times throughout the complaint, Astria alleges Cerner's revenue collection systems were responsible for its financial strain. "Cerner's faulty EHR and billing and collections platforms failed so spectacularly that they drove Astria, a revered nonprofit hospital system in East- ern Washington, into bankruptcy in May 2019," the complaint states. Astria cited issues with its revenue cycle vendor since it filed for bankruptcy, but it didn't initially name Cerner in bankruptcy court documents. In a press release issued May 6, 2019, the health system said it was facing a significant shortfall in cash flow due to issues with the company it contracted with to manage its billing in August 2018. In the complaint, Astria alleges that claims submitted to government payers were frequently rejected aer switching to Cerner. e system says collections were at 97 percent of net revenue before installing the bill- ing system in the summer of 2018, and that fell to 54 percent aer the switch, according to the report. In a statement to the Yakima Herald, a Cerner spokes- person said the company will dispute the allegations. "We categorically deny the allegations made in the lawsuit, we disagree on the merits and we will vig- orously defend the company," the statement said, ac- cording to the report. Astria is seeking damages from Cerner and has asked the court to void any claims the compa- ny has filed against the health system during the bankruptcy process. n

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