A New York Times investigation found that Providence, one of the nation’s largest health systems, pressured patients into paying their medical bills — even those who were eligible for financial assistance.
Instead, the system devised a business strategy to get patients to pay up.
“The result, in the case of Providence, is that thousands of poor patients were saddled with debts that they never should have owed,” NYT reporters found.
The health system spent less than 1% of its expenses on charity care last year, a decline from prior years, according to the health system’s annual audited financial reports.
