- Minnesota AG Keith Ellison announced his office will take proactive measures to renew its focus on medical-billing practices in Minnesota, including holding public listening sessions and collecting online submissions regarding consumers’ experiences with medical billing.
- In a related enforcement action, AG Ellison announced that his office is investigating the billing practices of Allina Health, which was the subject of recent New York Times reporting that found the nonprofit health system withheld non-emergency care from patients with unpaid medical bills.
- This and other recent enforcement actions by AG Ellison rely on the AG office’s Hospital Agreement with all 128 nonprofit hospitals in the state, which provides protections to patients against unfair or deceptive medical debt collection practices, and requires such hospitals to provide discounts to certain patients and reasonable payment plan options to all patients, among other things.
- Medical billing practices are gaining increased AG scrutiny. Alaska AG Treg Taylor flagged medical billing as an area of concern and renewed regulatory focus, particularly with respect to lenders offering to cover healthcare costs not otherwise covered by insurance, during this year’s Annual Meeting of the Attorney General Alliance.