Patient Files Lawsuit Against Health System for Deceptive Billing Practices

Vidant Health is being accused of unfair billing and debt collection schemes after charging a patient 11 times the Medicare rate for a CT scan in 2018.

One of North Carolina's largest hospital systems is the target of a lawsuit alleging deceptive billing and debt collection methods.

George Cansler is accusing the 1,477-bed system Vidant Health of not informing him of how much his care would cost, as well as deploying FirstPoint Collection Resources for aggressive debt collection practices on the unpaid bills.

According to the lawsuit, Cansler visited the Vidant Chowan Hospital emergency room in Edenton, North Carolina in 2018 for extreme pain from a likely kidney stone. More than a year later, he received a bill from Vidant asking him to pay $3,119 for a CT scan, 11 times the Medicare rate for the procedure at the time.

Cansler also alleges he was not told of the price beforehand and that Vidant later falsely told him it was a violation of federal law for them to disclose prices to patients before care.

While Vidant's alleged actions predate the No Surprises Act, this is in direct opposition to the federal law which took effect January 1 and prevents healthcare organizations from springing surprise medical bills on patients. For people covered under group and individual health plans, the new protections deal with most emergency and non-emergency services from out-of-network providers at in-network facilities, while those who are uninsured or opt for self-pay will receive a good faith estimate that provides the cost of care up front.

Even so, Vidant’s practices were manipulative and highly unreasonable, according to Cansler and his attorneys.

"Surprise billing is a widely criticized, predatory practice and it is especially harmful when one hospital system is the monopoly provider in a region because patients have no alternatives for care," Jamie Crooks of the law firm Fairmark Partners, LLP, said in a statement. "This complaint alleges that Vidant has abused its monopoly by sending surprise bills demanding unreasonable prices for common procedures."

Cansler's lawsuit is asking the court to require Vidant to reimburse residents who were overbilled and put an end to their alleged surprise billing and debt collection practices.