Not really surprising that in 2017 Tacoma’s St. Joseph Hospital was sued by the Attorney General.
In this case it appears they were allegedly were withholding charity care from thousands of people in the community.
In the lawsuit it discusses their bad billing and debt collection practices. I’ve experienced really bad collection activity with threats of legal action and judgment. They are really bad from my experience and the public should be aware of their practices. They use a company called TEAMHealth (which provides staffing) and they use an internal collection company called HRRG. They are aggressive and will say anything to get you to pay. Not only does St. Joseph Medical Center charge for their own staff they send you another surprise bill from TEAMHealth that have their own staffing. This isn’t transparent on the billing so you can just take their honest “truth” for it.
I’ve never experienced such billing practices from a company. Virginia Mason Franciscan Health is the umbrella company so I guess they run all the procedures but I’m unsure. This has been my review and personal experience, however. Maybe you have experienced something different from this hospital.
It just makes sense that in 2017 and even today they are still doing the same shady billing and operating procedures.