A new lawsuit against TeamHealth accuses the Knoxville, Tenn.-based physician-staffing firm of fraudulent patient billing and skirting state laws to maximize profits.
The class-action lawsuit was filed July 10 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. It claims that TeamHealth engages in fraudulent billing by inflating rates and charges, and has skirted state laws against the corporate practice of medicine to create an enterprise that is "profiting from patients' health emergencies."
Private equity-owned TeamHealth contracts with hospitals to supply physician staffing to their emergency rooms, radiology and other departments, and helps run hospitals' administrative functions. The lawsuit states TeamHealth, which operates in more than 3,300 acute and post-acute facilities nationwide, "is exactly the kind of pseudo-health conglomerate state laws are designed to stop."
In an emailed response to Becker's Hospital Review, TeamHealth said it "is confident that our billing practices and organizational structure are fully compliant with long established laws and precedents. TeamHealth maintains a long-standing practice against balance billing. We believe these claims are wholly without merit and we look forward to vigorously defending ourselves."
TeamHealth's billing practices have been questioned in the past. Last December, it faced scrutiny over billing at Nashville (Tenn.) General Hospital. TeamHealth said it is no longer suing patients at Nashville General or at other hospitals and is implementing discount programs.