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About 82,000 former Ballad Health patients will soon have almost $278 million worth of outstanding bills eliminated under an agreement with a charity that buys and forgives the debt.
The agreement with Ballad, a not-for-profit system based in Johnson City, Tenn., marks RIP Medical Debt s first debt purchase directly from a hospital. RIP previously only bought medical debt from debt collectors. A July 2020 HHS Office of Inspector General advisory opinion opened the door for hospitals to sell or donate debt direct to the group. This really is the tipping point for us going forward, said Allison Sesso, RIP s executive director. We look forward to working with a lot more hospitals. Even those that feel they have a very robust charity care policy in place should give us a call to review who has slipped through the cracks.