Hospitals in Arizona that bill the state's Medicaid program will violate federal law if they balance-bill patients for any unpaid treatment, the Arizona Supreme Court ruled March 9.
The ruling voids parts of Arizona's state law that have allowed hospitals to place financial liens on patients when the amount paid by the state's Medicaid program, the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System, doesn't cover all charges related to their treatment, according to the Arizona Capitol Times. Justice Clint Bolick said the practice violates federal law.
"The hospitals' liens are designed to secure payment from third parties in excess of the Medicaid reimbursement," Mr. Bolick wrote, according to the publication. "Such use of the lien statutes cannot coexist with the federal prohibition against balance billing, and therefore the statutes so applied are pre-empted."
The ruling is a win for about 50 patients who were facing liens from hospitals over care that AHCCCS didn't cover, according to the Arizona Capitol Times.