San Francisco Chronicle, "Hospital chain agrees to settlement; Catholic Healthcare West says it will pay $423 million refund"

          A settlement providing as much as $423 million in refunds and discounts to more than 780,000 uninsured patients at Catholic Healthcare West hospitals was approved Thursday by a Superior Court judge.
          The nonprofit company, which operates 43 hospitals in California, Nevada and Arizona, was accused in an October 2005 lawsuit of overcharging its uninsured patients and sending aggressive collection agencies after them when they couldn't pay. According to the suit, the hospitals -- including St. Francis and St. Mary's in San Francisco -- charged uninsured patients far more than those covered by Medicare, Medicaid or private insurance.
          Another provision requires "more compassionate collection policies'' for patients who fail to pay their bills, said Kelly Dermody, lawyer for the two former patients who filed the class-action suit. Dermody said the settlement was worth $423 million, which is 35 percent of the bills sent to more than 780,000 uninsured patients during the period covered by the case. But the company said the cost would probably be much lower because it has never expected to collect most of the unpaid bills.

Learn more about the Catholic Healthcare West settlement and your legal rights.