Medical Debt Collector Agrees to License Suspension

A Chicago debt collection agency has agreed to a temporary suspension of its license in Minnesota to resolve issues surrounding data security that were raised when one of its laptops went missing.

According to a statement issued Friday by Minnesota’s Attorney General, Lori Swanson, the state’s Commerce Department suspended the debt collection license of Accretive Health, Inc. for at least 20 days while the Department investigates some allegations.

Swanson announced in mid-January that she had filed a lawsuit against Accretive.

The AG said at the time that on July 25, 2011, an employee of collection agency Accretive Health, Inc. left an unencrypted laptop containing sensitive information on 23,500 Minnesota patients of two Minnesota hospital systems — Fairview Health Services and North Memorial Health Care — in a rental car after 10 p.m. in the parking area of the Seven Corners bar and restaurant district of Minneapolis.  The laptop was stolen.

The Commerce Department emphasized that the investigation would require Accretive’s full cooperation. The company signed a consent order from the Department pledging cooperation and the disclosure of various materials such as collection letters, training practices, collector screening procedures, and data security plan.