Ontario, Calif.-based Prime Healthcare Services is facing a class-action lawsuit accusing Prime Healthcare Huntington Beach and Huntington Beach (Calif.) Hospital of charging uninsured patients more for emergency department services.
The suit alleges uninsured ED patients are not sufficiently informed of their financial liability or that they will be billed at the rates listed on the hospital's chargemaster. The suit also claims the "unreasonable, unfair, and grossly excessive chargemaster rates" are much higher than what other patients would pay for the same services.
"This conduct is particularly egregious because emergency self-pay patients are under substantial duress when seeking emergency treatment/services and are typically the least able to afford defendants' artificially inflated prices," according to the suit.
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