Memphis hospitals engage in illegal billing practices, suits allege

Several Memphis hospitals routinely overcharge patients by demanding payments even after they've collected enough money from private or government health insurance plans to legally satisfy the debts, according to two lawsuits seeking class-action status.

Hospitals in the Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare system as well as AMISUB (SFH) Inc., which does business as Saint Francis Hospital, are named as defendants in the suits filed in Shelby County Chancery Court.

A parallel filing in U.S. District Court was dismissed after a judge ruled that possible administrative resolutions hadn't been exhausted. The litigation has been refiled in federal court.

In the suits, former patients say they were treated at the hospitals and received bills for the services. The hospitals then received payments -- usually steeply discounted, as allowed for in coverage plans -- from private insurance companies, TennCare and other programs.

Read more: http://www.commercialappeal.com/story/news/2017/07/15/memphis-hospitals-engage-illegal-billing-practices-suits-allege/464065001/