Lawyer Goes After Hospital and Collection Agency

Tired of being harassed by a hospital over a debt he claims he doesn’t owe, a Colorado lawyer is doing what he does best: suing.

Last week Aspen attorney Richard Cummins sued Aspen Valley Hospital and its billing agency.

Cummins filed the two-page complaint in Pitkin County Court on Dec. 21. He’s asking the court to order the hospital and its bill collector — Accounts Receivable Services LLC — to "cease and desist their harassment" and "clear the account."

"(AVH and Accounts Receivable Services) are apparently focused on sending out bills as opposed to determining whether the bills are appropriate, and have, as such, continuously harassed and annoyed the plaintiff," the suit says.  Which is unfair, at least, to Accounts Receivable Services, who isn’t in a position to know whether a bill is appropriate or not.  Accounts Receivable Services is used by the hospital to collect on unpaid bills; they aren’t the originator of the bills.

Poor record keeping on the hospitals part has turned into a PR nightmare for the collection agency.

The lawsuit comes some four years after AVH had been stung with public criticism that its billing practices were shoddy and negligent.

The public also voiced its displeasure at the voting booths that year, and ousted a hospital board that they felt played a rule in the billing woes. In turn, a new board of directors fired the hospital’s CEO and CFO, and it outsourced the hospital’s billing service.