Prevalence and Characteristics of Virginia Hospitals Suing Patients and Garnishing Wages for Unpaid Medical Bills

William E Bruhn; Lainie Rutkow; Peiqi Wang; Stephen E Tinker; Christine Fahim; Heidi N Overton; Martin A Makary

doi:10.1001/jama.2019.9144

Prevalence and Characteristics of Virginia Hospitals Suing Patients and Garnishing Wages for Unpaid Medical Bills

JAMA. 2019 Aug 20;322(7):691-692. doi: 10.1001/jama.2019.9144.

Authors

William E Bruhn¹, Lainie Rutkow², Peiqi Wang¹, Stephen E Tinker³, Christine Fahim², Heidi N Overton¹, Martin A Makary¹

Affiliations

¹ Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland.
² Department of Health Policy and Management, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland.
³ University of Oklahoma College of Medicine, Oklahoma City.

Abstract

This study uses 2017 court records to characterize how frequently Virginia hospitals take legal action to garnish patients’ wages to recover unpaid medical expenses, and the characteristics of hospitals and patient employers associated with the actions.