OXFORD, Miss., Aug. 5 /PRNewswire/ -- North Mississippi Health Services announced today that it has reached agreement with a plaintiffs’ attorney group headed by the Scruggs Law Firm to settle concerns over discounts provided to uninsured patients. North Mississippi Health Services is the parent corporation for North Mississippi Medical Center, a 650-bed hospital located in Tupelo, Mississippi, along with five smaller hospitals located in north Mississippi and western Alabama. The settlement provides for adjustments to the Medical Center’s policy for providing discounts to patients having no insurance coverage for their health care services.
During the past three months class action lawsuits have been filed against 40 hospitals and health care systems across the country alleging that hospitals have failed to fulfill their charitable mission by not providing health care to uninsured patients at discounted prices. NMHS, which is not a defendant in those actions, agreed to the settlement to avoid the distraction and cost associated with a potential lawsuit of this magnitude. John Heer, CEO of NMHS, stated, “There are several community issues which we need to be addressing. Getting tangled up in a lawsuit would distract our time and attention away from addressing those issues.” He added, “After reviewing the proposed settlement, there seemed to be little reason to pursue lengthy litigation of the issue since the proposed discounts were very reasonable.”
Richard Scruggs, lead plaintiffs’ attorney with the Scruggs Law Firm, PA, stated, “NMHS has handled this issue in an exemplary fashion. In our investigations, we found that they did not participate in many of the practices that we felt existed with other health care providers.”
Mr. Heer stated that NMHS has, since its inception, had charity care policies in place to provide care at no cost, or at reduced cost, to patients unable to pay the full cost of their care. However, in discussing its policies with the Scruggs Law Firm, it was felt that those policies could be improved by specifically addressing care provided to patients having no health insurance coverage. During 2003 NMHS processed over 6,200 applications for charity care, and provided care which, if billed at NMHS’s undiscounted charges, would have produced over $31 million in additional revenue.
As part of the settlement, NMHS agreed to refund any amounts paid by uninsured patients who received services during the past three years and who would have qualified for discounts under the revised policy. This decision reaffirms NMHS’s commitment to the guidelines for the non-profit hospital with respect to transparency, financial reporting, conflicts of interest and inurement.
The settlement is subject to approval by the United Sates District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi.
Contact: MARSHA TAPSCOTT
662-377-3193
North Mississippi Health Services
CONTACT: Marsha Tapscott, +1-662-377-3193, for North Mississippi HealthServices