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In Colorado, hospitals often confuse people by suing patients for unpaid medical bills under the name of some other entity.
DENVER — Weeks after a joint 9NEWS/Colorado Sun investigation discovered the largest provider of heath care in the state suing thousands of patients under what amounts to a legal pseudonym, the Colorado legislature moved one step closer to stopping the practice.
Wednesday, the Colorado House Judiciary Committee passed, on a 7-4 vote, House Bill 1380 which would, among other things, force the owners of debt to list their names as plaintiffs in debt collection cases.
It follows our investigation of the collection practices of UCHealth. We found the hospital provider, starting in 2020, began to almost sue patients exclusively under the names of one of its third-party debt collectors.
The practice had allowed UCHealth to largely escape much of the public scrutiny that has accompanied hospital lawsuits in recent years.
During this investigation, UCHealth did ultimately disclose it had sued more than 15,000 former patients for unpaid medical bills over the course of the last five years. That amounts to roughly eight lawsuits filed every day.
Legislators agreed to amend the bill this week in a way that would require both the debt collector and the owner of the debt to be listed as plaintiffs in the litigation.
The amendment appeared, at least on Wednesday, to assuage some of the fears present during last session when a similar proposal was floated and ultimately defeated.
It now moves on to the full House.
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