Collection Agency Sued for Allegedly Violating Charity Care Law

A Washington healthcare collection agency is being sued by a law firm seeking class action status for allegedly violating the state’s charity care law.

In a lawsuit filed on December 8, Seattle-based Phillips Law Group claims that Audit & Adjustment Company, Inc., based in the Seattle suburb of Lynnwood, has systematically engaged in “the unfair, deceptive and misleading practice of telling patients that they owe the full charges shown on hospital billing statements, without informing them that they may be entitled to charity care that reduces the hospital debt or eliminates it entirely depending on a patient’s income level.”

Lead attorneys John Phillips and Matthew Geyman are seeking class action status for the lawsuit filed in King County Superior Court.  In addition to statutory damages on behalf of the plaintiffs for allegedly violating the state’s charity care law, Consumer Protection Act and Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), Phillips and Geyman want the agency to stop pursuing collections from charity care- eligible patients.