MINNEAPOLIS, January 21, 2008—A tool for evaluating the creditworthiness of patients has many, including Minnesota's Attorney General Lori Swanson, up in arms.

The idea of patient credit evaluation for hospitals has been given the name MedFICO in some reports. The purpose of the product is to analyze patient health care payment histories in the same way mortgage or house payments are tracked, so that hospitals can better assess a patient's ability to pay medical bills.

But many people are concerned that a low and possible erroneous credit score may prevent people from getting access to care – even people who carry health insurance, vecause of the burden of high copays and deductibles.

A leader in tracking medical credit scores has been Fair Issac Corp., the credit analysis company that has spawned Healthcare Analytics, the Boston firm that is developing the medical credit instrument.

Several observers have described the product Healthcare Analytics has created as a MedFICO instrument, designed to assist hspitals and other health care providers in grading customers on their credit-worthiness, based on past payment of medical bills.

The sticking point is that patients who have been slow to pay past medical bills will be assessed as unlikely to pay future bills in a timely fashion – and denied access to care, or given qualified access, on that basis.

The January 17 Star Tribune featured a commentary piece by Attorney General Swanson that assailed the MedFICO approach, characterizing it as an effort to ration health care, and promised action against its implementation in Minnesota.

"Many Minnesotans already face a daunting time with a stalled economy, a mortgage fiasco, high inflation and high home heating bills," Swanson wrote. "Credit scores, particularly a medical credit score, can affect every family."

Swanson pointed out that one-third of American have problems with medical debt – even though two-thirds are insured. Medical debt is the leading cause of personal bankruptcy.

She objected to comparing health care costs, which are a necessity, to buying a television.

Swanson concluded by promising to draft "legislation to prohibit the distribution of credit scores to medical providers until after the patient's treatment is completed. The legislation also will prohibit providers from reporting health-care debt to credit bureaus. We shouldn't send patients into a financial death spiral simply because they get sick."

MSNBC' The Red Tape Chronicles, "The Doctor Will See Your Credit Report Now"

Star Tribune commentary by Attorney General Swanson