By Kevin McCauley
Accretive Health, the Chicago-based debt collection agency under fire for allegedly demanding pay from emergency room patients before treatment, has hired Duberstein Group for preparation for Congressional hearings.
The New York Times ran a blockbuster piece April 24 about Accretive’s strategy of “embedding” debt collectors in hospitals, and other hardball activities, which have been under investigation by Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson.
Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) held a hearing May 30 at Minnesota’s State Capitol in which he took testimony from patients; Swanson; Charles Mooty, interim CEO of Fairview Health Services, and Greg Kazarian, Accretive senior VP.
Franken, the author of the End Debt Collector Abuse Act, said: “When Minnesotans go to the emergency room, they should be able to get treatment without first being hassled for payment.”
Ken Duberstein, former chief of staff to President Ronald Reagan, leads the Accretive Health lobbying team.
He’s joined by Daniel Meyer, COS to ex-House Speaker Newt Gingrich and legislative affairs assistant to former President George W. Bush; Steven Champlin, former executive director of the House Democratic Caucus; Brian Griffin, aide to Sen. Bryon Dorgan (D-ND); Michael Berman, aide to former VP Walter Mondale, and Eric Ueland, COS to ex-Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist.
On May 15, Accretive hired Michael Leavitt, former Secretary of U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services and three-term Utah Governor of Utah, to lead a panel to create a national standard to deal with hospital patient payments.
Members of that group include Frist, Donna Shalala, ex-Secretary of the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, and Tom Daschle, ex-Senator from South Dakota and Majority Leader.
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