Business ProfileforProvidence Health & Services

The following describes a pending government action that has been formally brought by a government agency but has not yet been resolved. We are providing a summary of the governments allegations, which have not yet been proven.

On February 24, 2022, in the State of Washington King County Superior Court, the State of Washington filed a Complaint for Injunctive and Other Relief under the Consumer Protection Act against Providence Health & Services – Washington; Swedish Health Services; Swedish Edmonds; and Kadlec Regional Medical Center for failing to make charity care accessible to thousands of Washingtonians.  The complaint alleges Providence hospitals sent to collections more than 50,000 accounts of charity care eligible patients

The Attorney General filed the lawsuit against five Swedish hospitals and nine Providence-affiliated facilities for failing to ensure that eligible low-income Washingtonians receive the discounts to which they are legally entitled, and aggressively collecting money from charity care eligible low-income Washingtonians.

Attorney General Ferguson will also file a motion for preliminary injunction unless the hospitals agree to stop their conduct while the case is ongoing.

Washington’s charity care law protects low-income Washingtonians from out-of-pocket hospital costs. The protections apply to both insured and uninsured patients.

The hospitals are located around the state, from Seattle to Spokane, Walla Walla to Everett. In their communities, many of the hospitals are either the largest, or the only hospital in their area. Swedish’s location at First Hill is the largest hospital in the state with over 800 beds. Together, these hospitals reported more than $18 billion in patient service revenues in 2020.

The lawsuit asserts that these hospitals committed thousands of Consumer Protection Act violations, including:

Training employees to aggressively collect payment without regard for a patient’s eligibility for financial assistance;
Instructing employees to use a specific script when communicating with patients that gives patients the impression that they are expected to pay for their care;
Providence instructed employees: “don’t accept the first 'no'”;
Failing to notify patients that they were eligible for charity care financial assistance when the providers determined they qualified for assistance;

Sending more than 54,000 patient accounts to debt collection, despite knowing the patients were eligible for financial assistance.

These 54,000 patient accounts totaled more than $70 million. Under Washington’s current charity care law, those patients were eligible for discounts on their bills. Moreover, under its own charity care policies that Providence promoted, these patients should have been eligible for full write-offs of their medical debt.

The hospitals’ illegal conduct began in 2018. Much of their conduct continues to this day, the lawsuit asserts, despite the Attorney General’s Office investigation and previous lawsuits Ferguson has filed against other hospitals over similar practices. A Providence financial executive admitted in a deposition in November that the hospitals continue to send patients eligible for financial assistance to collections.

The lawsuit seeks restitution in the form of full write-off of medical debts, and refunds, plus interest, for patients who did not receive financial assistance. In addition to the $70 million in debt relief and refunds, the lawsuit is also seeking millions of dollars in civil penalties. The total number of Consumer Protection Act violations will be determined as the case progresses.

Non-profit Swedish Health Services operates two hospitals in Seattle, as well as facilities in Ballard, Issaquah, and Edmonds. Providence Health & Services Washington’s eight non-profit locations include: Spokane (two); Everett; Olympia; Centralia; Chewelah; Colville; and Walla Walla. Kadlec is located in Richland. All 14 of the hospitals operate under the national nonprofit health system Providence St. Joseph Health, which is based in King County.

If you paid for medical services or are in collections for a medical bill from a Providence or Swedish hospital or Kadlec Regional Medical Center, and believe you may be eligible for charity care, contact Attorney General’s Office Investigator Bau Vang at 206-516-2989 or by email at bau.vang@atg.wa.gov.

For more information about this case, please contact the Washington Attorney General’s office at https://www.atg.wa.gov/ or (360) 753-6200.

To read the full press release, click here https://www.atg.wa.gov/news/news-releases/ag-ferguson-files-lawsuit-against-swedish-other-providence-affiliated-hospitals.

 Statement from Providence Regarding Charity Care Complaint by the Washington State Attorney General

On Feb. 24, 2022 - The Providence family of organizations is extremely disappointed that the Office of the Washington State Attorney General has chosen to file inaccurate and unfair charges against us regarding our charity care and financial assistance practices. Serving every person who comes to us, regardless of ability to pay, is a central tenet of our mission as a not-for-profit organization. We take this responsibility seriously.

As the largest provider of charity care in the state of Washington, the Providence family of organizations — which includes Providence, Swedish and Kadlec — delivered $79 million in free and discounted care statewide in 2020 alone. Our practices comply with, and in many instances exceed, the requirements of Washington’s Charity Care Act. In fact, our threshold for charity care eligibility is at least two times more generous than Washington state standards.

When the AG’s office first raised their concerns with us two years ago, we cooperated fully and in good faith. That is why it is inconceivable that the AG has chosen now to file this complaint, which runs counter to the facts we provided to his office. The state has depended on Providence to help get Washington communities through the pandemic, and the organizations’ caregivers have delivered every step of the way, compassionately caring for tens of thousands of COVID-19 patients from every walk of life and socio-economic background. Now, these same caregivers are faced with the equally daunting task of getting to the backlog of non-COVID care amid the nation’s worst shortage of health care personnel.

Providence remains unwavering in our commitment to working with patients through any financial issue, and we continue to offer a range of options to best support them, including charity care. Even still, it’s our practice to always look for ways to continually enhance our services and offerings for our patients and communities. If we find out we’ve fallen short of the high standards we hold ourselves to, we make immediate changes. This is something we’ve been committed to while working with the AG’s office and as our financial assistance and charity care practices and policy in Washington state were reviewed.

While we strongly disagree with the allegations in this complaint, we’ll continue to support policies that expand access to charity care and make health care more accessible to vulnerable patients. Providence has actively partnered with the Washington State Hospital Association to support the charity care bill currently in front of the Washington state legislature, as proposed by the AG.
                                                                                                         
We look forward to defending ourselves in court. In the meantime, because this is pending litigation, we are not commenting further at this time.