Whether you view it as #fakenews or the last check on our current president’s power, when the news media has its sights set on you, it is best to tread lightly. This is especially true when you are in-house counsel for a company that is a house-hold name or fixture in the community.
Sure while Biglaw may make the news for the occasional massive layoff or a high-powered partner’s DUI, Biglaw’s day-to-day legal operations are not nearly as newsworthy as those of a well-known company. When you are working in-house, you can bet some of your legal decisions may leave the new media salivating.
Don’t believe me? Does anyone really think United Airlines’ in-house team is going to receive their annual bonus after their recent spate of public relations woes?
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While thankfully not to the level of United’s springtime blunder, our own in-house team recently took its turn through the local media cycle after a seemingly routine action by one of our in-house attorneys caught the eye of an aspiring journalist.
By way of background, as is common in most large hospital networks, our in-house team has a couple of attorneys focused on reimbursement matters. From appealing insurance coverage denials to pursuing cases of third-party liability, the team is rather busy and often sends dozens of demand-like letters a month.
The team recently received a referral from our business office who noticed a surprising number of patients employed by the same company who were having their bills denied. After a little digging, the team noticed the company operated a self-funded insurance plan, which in its simplest terms means every dollar the company saves on paying claims is another they are able to keep as profit.
Since the company was a rather well-known one in the community, the in-house reimbursement team opted to craft a slightly more cordial, but stern letter asking for a meeting to discuss the several million dollars in denied claims our hospital had received.
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After the passage of only a couple of days, I awoke to see a headline in the local paper exclaim our hospital was demanding millions of dollars from the poor local business. The article then went on to detail the plight of the local business, their concerns over the rising cost of healthcare, and their desire to continue to provide health insurance to all of their employees.
The article conveniently ignored the fact we had treated a number of their employees and properly billed the company. Rather it took the side of the smaller business versus the behemoth hospital corporation and portrayed us as proverbial bullies for daring to ask for reimbursement.
In hindsight, our team should have thought to run the letter up the chain of command and share it with our colleagues in the public relations department. Granted even they may not have foreseen the company’s willingness to run to the media, but I can bet they would have suggested some verbiage changes which would have better aligned the letter with our public image.
By no means do I mean to suggest a fear of bad publicity should stop you from recommending a course of action that is right for your in-house client.
Rather, for as much grief as I give other non-legal departments for all of the work they cause me, perhaps a little inter-agency cooperation can do some good every now and again if we attorneys are not too stubborn to accept it.
Stephen R. Williams is in-house counsel with a multi-facility hospital network in the Midwest. His column focuses on a little talked about area of the in-house life, management. You can reach Stephen at [email protected].