A month after being spotlighted for its “aggressive” collection tactics and subsequently announcing it will adjust how it collects unpaid debts in the future, the University of Virginia Health System announced yesterday the creation of a billing and collection practices advisory council, which, perhaps surprising to nobody, does not include any collection professionals on it.
Of the 16 members who were named to the advisory council, there are medical professionals, consumer advocates, and even a med school student and nursing school student, but nobody from the collection side of the transaction. The members of the council are:
- Dr. Lehman Bates, Pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Charlottesville
- Sylvana Fernandez-Ellauri, UVA Health Language Services Spanish Interpreter
- Don Gathers, Public Housing Association of Residents – Charlottesville
- Tyler D. Gaedecke, UVA School of Nursing student
- Charlene Green, Director, City of Charlottesville Human Rights Commission
- Landon Hobbs, UVA School of Medicine student
- Wanda Hoerman, Assistant Director, Albemarle County Social Services
- Denise Johnson, Director of Equity & Inclusion, Charlottesville City Schools
- Joy Johnson, Chair of the Board, Public Housing Association of Residents – Charlottesville
- Charles Lewis, UVA Health Telemedicine team member
- Michaela Lieberman, Health Justice Legal Fellow for Legal Aid Justice Center
- Mo Nadkarni, MD, UVA Health Internal Medicine
- Karl Quist, Charlottesville for Reasonable Health Insurance
- Lorie Strother, SWaM Contract Administrator for UVA Office of Procurement and Supplier Diversity Services
- Paula Tomko, CEO, Central Virginia Health Services, Inc.
- Sharon Veith, MSN, RN, Westhaven Community Nurse and UVA School of Nursing
The creation of the board follows a report in The Washington Post that noted that the healthcare network has filed more than 36,000 lawsuits seeking to recover $106 million in unpaid bills during the six-year period ending in June 2018. While UVa Health has not announced a moratorium on filing new lawsuits, it has stopped a large number of collection lawsuits that were already filed, and announced changes to expand the number of patients who have access to charity care.
One of the advisory board members said he hopes the council can impress the importance of being reasonable on UVa Health.
“Just because you have a hammer doesn’t mean you have to look at everything as a nail; just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should” said Don Gathers, with the Public Housing Association of Residents – Charlottesville. “There has to be a way forward that’s workable for all parties involved.”
