Minneapolis-based Allina Health announced Aug. 23 that it is ending a billing and collection policy that drew national attention and an investigation by the the Minnesota attorney general.
On June 1, The New York Times published an article about nonprofit Allina Health's billing practices. Citing internal documents and interviews with Allina physicians, nurses and patients, the Times found the system provided care to indebted patients in emergency rooms but restricted services to other patients who had certain levels of debt, with some patients not allowed to return unless debt was paid in full.
Allina announced on June 9 it paused the policy. On Aug. 18, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison announced an investigation of Allina billing practices, noting his continued concern "about reports of Allina denying needed non-emergency medical care solely on the basis of medical debt."
Now Allina has moved from pausing the policy to formally ending it, according to the following statement shared with Becker's:
"Allina Health remains committed to the creation of the highest quality, affordable and accessible care. Our policy that interrupted the scheduling of non-emergency, outpatient clinic care for patients who do not engage after significant outreach to support the resolution of their medical debt has been extensively reviewed. We have determined there are opportunities to engage our clinical teams and technology differently to provide financial assistance resources for patients who need this support. We will formally transition away from our policy that interrupted the scheduling of non-emergency, outpatient clinic care.
"We are grateful to our compassionate team members who work tirelessly to remove barriers to care by assisting patients with financial counseling and programs. We remain proud of our nationally recognized efforts to support patients and communities in proactively addressing key social factors that impact health and look forward to building on our work to support patients."
In addition to the investigation of Allina, Mr. Ellison's office is taking other steps to intensify scrutiny of medical billing in the state, including listening sessions for consumers to share their experiences with medical billing and devoting a booth at the Minnesota State Fair to the theme of medical billing, inviting fairgoers to stop by and share their experiences with AG office staff.