Accretive 'money-hungry' tactics raised alarms

Just months after a consulting firm swept into the Fairview system with a new approach to collecting money from patients, hospital employees were expressing alarm and frustration, records show. "We are giving the image that we are money-hungry," one said. Said another: "The patients are being bombarded by phone calls." In the past few weeks, Fairview and its consulting firm, Accretive Health, have faced an outpouring of criticism over high-pressure tactics exposed in an April 24 report by Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson. But internal documents, including hundreds of private e-mails, show that warning signs were mounting soon after Accretive arrived in early 2010.