The Oregon Justice Department has opened an investigation into Renton, Wash.-based Providence's financial practices, The Oregonian reported Oct. 13.
The department's consumer protection arm is leading the civil investigation, a spokesperson told the news outlet. The spokesperson declined to provide details on the subject and scope of the investigation. Providence is the state's largest hospital group.
The Oregon investigation comes after Washington state's attorney general filed a lawsuit in February against the health system alleging 14 of its hospitals engaged in aggressive tactics to collect payment, failed to ensure discounts for eligible low-income patients, and steered poor patients to debt collectors. The attorney general added two collection agencies to the lawsuit in August. Providence's alleged billing practices also were detailed in a Sept. 24 report by The New York Times.
Providence has denied using aggressive tactics to collect payment.
"The notion that Providence intentionally takes advantage of those who are vulnerable could not be further from the truth of who we are," the health system said Sept. 24 in response to the New York Times article.
Providence said Oct. 2 that it is reimbursing 760 Medicaid patients whose accounts were sent to debt collectors as a result of an unintended error.
In response to the Oregon investigation, a Providence spokesperson told Becker's on Oct. 14 that it is the state's largest provider of charity care services, providing more than $573 million in community benefit to the state in 2021, including $65.1 million in charity care and $166 million in Medicaid losses.
"Our charity care policy exceeds the requirements under Oregon state law," the spokesperson said, adding that it was the first healthcare system to sign on in support of a 2019 bill that set minimum amounts that nonprofit health systems are required to spend on patients who cannot afford medically necessary treatment. That bill took effect in 2020.