Harborview Medical Center quietly checks on charity patients' credit [View All]

[flamingyouth]

To test whether its patients are truly needy, Harborview Medical Center has been quietly pulling credit information on unsuspecting patients who ask for help paying their medical bills.

The public hospital, the state's largest provider of free medical care, hasn't been telling those patients that it uses a TransUnion credit tool to verify their income. The tool relies on a person's monthly debt spending to determine his monthly income and whether the patient qualifies for financial help.

Harborview officials said they give patients proper notice, but after the Seattle P-I asked about the practice, the hospital said it is exploring whether to disclose the information more clearly on patient forms.

"We want to be sensitive to people's concerns," said Denise Leverentz, Harborview's director of business and decision support and financial counseling.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/305251_harborview27.html