Critics say hospitals cherry pick best-paying patients

This is an interesting article about how hospitals are using private medical records on patients to target direct marketing efforts that will ultimately yield increased profits for the hospital.  This raises more questions about privacy and sharing of personal medical data with non-medical people involved in the marketing efforts. 

I'm sure that over time, this practice (unless it's somehow either disallowed through regulation, or at least limited) is going to grow in popularity.  It also points out in the article that they specifically target patients with insurance - another way to insure that the facility receives payment, while potentially driving up insurance claims activity, which we all will ultimately end up paying for in the form of higher premiums.

Read more here . . . .

Prudential, MetLife Sued over Death Master File

State efforts to collect on unclaimed property held by insurers has mushroomed into private action lawsuits filed in Illinois, Ohio and New York against Prudential and MetLife.
The lawsuits are coming to light against the background of a hearing Thursday on inaccuracies related to the Death Master File mainted by the Social Security Administration.


Read more here . . . .