How to Reduce a Hospital Lien: Why Reasonableness of Charges Wins the Fight
Most hospital lien negotiations start from the wrong number. This post explains why billed charges function more like list prices than a measure of reasonable value, how to determine whether a provider holds an enforceable lien versus an unpaid debt, how to test whether that lien was properly perfected, and how to build a defensible reasonable value range using Medicare rates, commercial negotiated rates, and cost report data. It also covers auditing the itemized bill, catching balance billing violations, and layering statutory and equitable arguments on top of the reasonableness case.
