New Debt Collector Hangout: The Emergency Room

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Rahm Emanuel weighs in:

Emanuel steps in to aid Accretive in dispute - MarketWatch

Emanuel steps in to aid Accretive in dispute
Chicago mayor intervenes in firm’s feud with Minnesota official

By Russ Britt, MarketWatch
LOS ANGELES (MarketWatch) — Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel has stepped in on behalf of an ailing health-care consultant in its current dispute with Minnesota authorities.

Emanuel, former chief of staff to President Barack Obama, has written a letter to Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson asking that she try to negotiate directly with Accretive Health Inc. AH +3.01% , which is based in Chicago.

Swanson has charged the company with using overly aggressive tactics in its collection procedures, and initiating those practices at one of its clients, Fairview Health Services. Since Swanson made the allegations in late April, Accretive’s stock has lost more than half its value; the shares did rise almost 3% to $8.90 Tuesday.

Emanuel, however, is concerned that Swanson is prosecuting the case against Accretive in the press without actually talking directly to the company itself, spokesman Tom Alexander said. In his letter to Swanson, Emanuel wrote that Accretive “does important work for hospitals and good things for our city, particularly for our neediest citizens.”

“Accretive Health’s work is aimed at enhancing providers’ financial viability and allowing them to invest in higher-quality care,” the mayor said. He added that Swanson should meet directly with Accretive Chief Executive Mary Tolan.

“Ms. Tolan and her counsel are prepared to meet with you and your colleagues early next week for the purpose of endeavoring to resolve their dispute with you,” Emanuel went on to say. “I would urge you to allow this meeting to go forward. In the meantime, I request that the parties cease efforts to publicly prosecute this matter and rather try to resolve the matter privately.”

Emanuel also asked that Swanson’s office discontinue contacting Accretive clients until the issue is resolved.

Calls to Swanson’s office were not immediately returned. In a statement, Accretive’s Tolan said: “As one of Chicago’s leading growth companies, we are incredibly grateful for Mayor Emanuel’s help in reaching a fair resolution of our issues with the Minnesota attorney general.”

Last month, Swanson’s office circulated a six-volume report on Accretive’s business practices, calling the company an “India-outsourced, uber-collection agency” that she said created a culture similar to “Glengarry Glen Ross,” referring to the David Mamet play about unethical real-estate salesmen. She also said Accretive had “breathtaking” control over Fairview’s financial structure.

It was the second time that Swanson has targeted Accretive, as she sued the consultancy in January for patient-privacy violations after a laptop containing sensitive data was lost.

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I guess that didn't work:

Despite Chicago mayor's intervention, Minnesota AG says she won't back off Accretive probe - TwinCities.com

There's also this:

Accretive Health may seek to ditch debt-collection practice - chicagotribune.com

Key part:

Accretive said it does not plan any layoffs as a result of the lost business in Minnesota, noting that some employees involved in that work may move to other hospitals with Accretive contracts.

Although I've been hearing the word's "one month's severance" a lot lately.

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Originally Posted by Passacaglia

Fighting back, youtube style:

http://youtu.be/il1JcPsxWkM
http://youtu.be/7JQQthio_Us

Weird, it looks like they removed these videos. I wonder why.

Anyway, Accretive said it would respond to Franken's questions Friday, and it looks like they did late in the evening -- sounds like how I meet deadlines.

Hot Dish Politics | StarTribune.com

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As for me, people in Minnesota found out what happened to them yesterday, and Chicago people should find out next week.

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Accretive Health Goes on Offensive, Seeks Standards for Health Care Debt Collections

Accretive Health will fund the health care industry’s first standards for how health care organizations handle patient finance and debt collections.


Accretive has assembled a panel to be led by Michael Leavitt, former Secretary of U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, and three-term governor from Utah. Leavitt will be joined by former U.S. senators Tom Daschle and Bill Frist and numerous health care industry experts.

The proposal is the latest of proactive public relations moves by Accretive to combat what has been a devastating report released last month by the Minnesota attorney general that criticized the company for what it perceived as excessive patient finance and debt collection practices. Accretive has denied the accusations, but saw its stock price halve shortly after the report was made public.

Over the weekend the company issued a point-by-point refutation of the attorney general’s report, which resulted in a bump in its stock price. Now it has taken the offensive and will be funding the creation of national standards for patient finance practices.

“This process will create first-of-kind national standards for understanding expected charges, available resources, counseling, billing and payment procedures regardless of the ability to pay,” according to the company’s press release.

Accretive promises not to be directly involved in the standards-setting process other than funding it. Leavitt’s group will select “an independent non-profit Standard Development Organization (SDO) to conduct a collaborative process among practitioners, patient advocates, and other interested parties,” according to the release. “Once concluded, the group will advance the identified standards to a national accrediting organization.”

The new patient finance standards panel will be formed later this month and begin work in June. Once those standard’s are established, Accretive intends to be one of the first organizations to be accredited.

As for me, my resume was sent to a recruiter who works with another department here, and I've got meetings with a couple people there to "get a little better feel for what they do" (note that I have absolutely no idea what they do). But the good news is that I also have a job offer from someplace else, so it's nice to know I'll have options for getting out.