A proposed class action lawsuit is targeting one of North Carolina’s largest hospital systems and its “astonishingly high” charges for imaging and other services.
Attorneys filed the complaint against Vidant Health and its billing collections vendor FirstPoint on Feb. 18. They allege the hospital has hidden prices, allowing it to overbill for computed tomography scans and other common procedures. After issuing such surprise bills, the Greenville-based not-for-profit has allegedly deployed “aggressive and illegal” tactics to collect unpaid bills.
Law firm Wallace and Graham is representing former patient George Cansler in the suit after he visited a Vidant Health emergency room in 2018. Suffering from “extreme pain” from a likely kidney stone, he underwent CT at the Vidant Chowan Hospital in Edenton, North Carolina. Cansler allegedly received a bill more than one year later for $3,119, despite his insurance already doling out $456 for the exam.
“North Carolina has some of the highest healthcare costs in the country. We believe conduct like this is one reason why,” attorney and partner Mona Lisa Wallace said in a Feb. 22 announcement from the Salisbury, North Carolina, law firm.
On the other side, Vidant Health said that Cansler’s allegations do not match the organization’s “patient centered, mission driven, not-for-profit values.”
“In addition to a dedicated team of case managers who help patients understand their bills, set up payment plans and provide charity care in all applicable cases, Vidant has transparent pricing resources available online for any patient or prospective patient to reference,” the nine-hospital system said in a statement.
Wallace and Graham noted that the Medicare rate for a CT scan in 2018 was roughly $300, with their client’s charge representing an elevenfold increase. They also allege Vidant Health would not disclose anticipated out-of-pocket charges, later claiming it would represent a “violation of federal law” to share prices prior to care.
They’re asking the court to compel Vidant to reimburse North Carolina patients who were overbilled and to halt the hospital system’s “deceptive” surprise billing and debt collection efforts. Read the full complaint, filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina, here.
Marty Stempniak has covered healthcare since 2012, with his byline appearing in the American Hospital Association's member magazine, Modern Healthcare and McKnight's. Prior to that, he wrote about village government and local business for his hometown newspaper in Oak Park, Illinois. He won a Peter Lisagor and Gold EXCEL awards in 2017 for his coverage of the opioid epidemic.