Renton, Wash.-based Providence will provide $157.8 million in refunds and debt relief to low-income patients as part of an agreement with the Washington State Office of the Attorney General stemming from a lawsuit filed against the system two years ago.
Hospitals in Washington are required by law to provide charity care to low-income patients. A lawsuit filed in February 2022 alleged Providence pressured patients who could have received financial assistance to pay their medical bills.
Providence plans to forgive $137.2 million in medical debt and refund about $20.6 million to 34,000 patients who qualified for charity care at the time of service, according to the report. Providence already forgave $125.8 million in medical charges and refunded about $230,000 to around 1,500 Medicaid beneficiaries, according to a news release from the attorney general's office. Providence will also pay the attorney general's office $4.5 million to cover the cost of the investigation.
"Serving those in need, regardless of their ability to pay, is at the very heart of Providence's mission and values," Providence CFO Greg Hoffman said in a news release. "Today’s agreement reaffirms our commitment to serving those who are most vulnerable by taking steps to proactively promote the availability of financial assistance and simplify the application process. We have already begun providing payments with interest to individuals and are continuing to review our files to ensure we have not missed anyone. Going forward, these steps will help ensure all patients can spend more time focusing on their health and less time worrying about medical bills or insurance coverage."
Nearly 100,000 patients will either have their debt forgiven or receive refunds.
Providence reviewed its financial assistance policies, billing-related communications to patients, financial aid applications and revenue cycle training materials in the last few years, and it implemented a process to write off Medicaid account balances. The system also noted in the release it has taken steps to make sure Medicaid beneficiaries are not incorrectly sent to collections going forward.