The Minnesota attorney general is launching an investigation into the billing practices of Minneapolis-based Allina Health following a New York Times article about the nonprofit system.
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison announced the investigation Aug. 18 as one step of many to renew scrutiny of medical billing in the state, Becker’s reports.
On June 1, The Times published an article about Allina Health’s billing practices. Citing internal documents and interviews with Allina physicians, nurses and patients, the Times found the system provided care to indebted patients in emergency rooms but restricted services to other patients who had certain levels of debt, with some patients not allowed to return unless debt was paid in full.
Allina announced on June 9 it paused the policy. At that time, Ellison asked patients to contact the AG office if they were affected by access decisions linked to medical debt. Read more.
