How to Find Out if you Have a Medical Lien | 8 Ways to Know

After a personal injury, navigating your medical treatment and rehabilitation is particularly difficult. It’s also likely that your recovery will entail some sizable medical expenses if you’ve experienced a severe injury or automobile accident. This is true, especially regarding insurance firms and healthcare practitioners. Medical liens are another problem you must consider after filing a personal injury claim. Thus, we have made this post on how to find out if you have a medical lien to aid you.

A medical lien offers healthcare providers, health and vehicle insurance companies, and financial institutions the right to deduct their costs from your compensation for your injuries.

The claims procedure can also be problematic, particularly if you need clarification on your chances of success. You also need to be concerned about your money situation. Fortunately, we can alleviate your anxiety by reminding you that there are steps you can take.

Let’s look at how to determine if you have a medical lien and, subsequently, what to do about it.

• Contact your healthcare provider
• Review your medical bills and insurance statements
• Contact your health insurance provider
• Check public records
• Consult a lawyer
• Request a lien search from a third-party company
• Review the lien and negotiate if necessary 
• Settle the lien and conclusion

How to Find Out if you Have a Medical Lien

You can find out if you have a medical lien through the following steps:

Contact your healthcare provider

Contacting your healthcare provider is the first step in determining whether you have a medical lien.

In some states, it’s standard procedure to submit liens if the patient lacks health insurance. Patients aren’t subject to liens as well. Instead, medical professionals affix claims to the damage claim.

The facility that treated you must be paid for the services they rendered, which is the only purpose of the lien. While that initially sounds alarming, it means that because the bond is connected to the accident claim, it won’t negatively affect your credit or personal rating.

According to the health provider, some may require you to submit a lien letter indicating your permission to grant the hospital a lien against your compensation for your medical expenses.

Review your medical bills and insurance statements

In some states, the hospital that treated you after an injury has the legal authority to submit a claim to recover any costs associated with your care. Thus, it’s best to Review your medical bills and insurance statements. This will help you to find out if you have a medical lien.

You might also need to submit a lien statement through some medical service companies and insurers. In essence, the document requests that you agree to a claim being placed against any upcoming compensation for personal injuries.

Contact your health insurance provider.

Your health insurance provider may issue a lien to recoup any funds used for your accident-related personal injury care. As a result, you might have to reimburse these hospital costs. Subrogation is a legal procedure that allows insurance companies to demand money from your payout.

The wording used in the contract will also determine the scope and power of the derivative claim. Subrogation clauses in health insurance policies are expressly unacceptable in some jurisdictions by the insurance industry.

So, it’s best to contact your health insurance company. This will help you to find out if you have a medical lien.

Check public records

If you sustain injuries in a mishap and think a medical lien is running against you, you can look it up in the public records area. From there, you can use your last name or the facility where you received care to look for your lien.

Consult a lawyer

If you want to find out if you have a medical lien against you, it’s a good idea to consult a lawyer.

The attorney will also review the claims procedure and how a lien impacts your case during the session. They’ll also handle any issues and develop a strategy for your case.

Request a lien search from a third-party company.

It can be challenging to calculate medical expenses and conduct lien inquiries. Professional advice is essential to ensure that you have a clear grasp of what is “fair and reasonable” concerning the financial aspects of your medical treatment.

An already challenging procedure can become more challenging due to medical liens. Accordingly, requesting a lien search from a third-party company is highly recommended. They can also assist in determining and attesting to the fair worth of medical services.

Review the lien and negotiate if necessary.

Although a lien would make you responsible for paying back every dollar spent on medical treatment, this isn’t always the case. Depending on the specifics of the deal, lien amounts are frequently negotiable.

A competent personal injury lawyer frequently persuades a lienholder to take less than the complete amount as reimbursement.

Because the lienholder’s financial interests coincide with those of the harmed patient, lien negotiation is often successful. The lienholder will not be compensated if you lose your case.

Thus, they are frequently motivated to settle your personal injury lien outside the courtroom. This makes them frequently willing to take less than what is entirely due.

Settle the lien and conclusion.

If your health insurance paid for your medical expenses and is pursuing reimbursement from your personal injury lien, their primary objective is to get a settlement. Therefore, even if they receive only part of the originally requested amount, ensuring some feasible repayment is in their best interest.

In actuality, most liens are resolved for less than their entire value. A competent attorney can assist in settling the medical lien deal to your advantage. They can also include provisions that will safeguard you if you lose your lawsuit or the settlement excludes payment for the lien.

My Opinion

With the aid of a medical lien, a healthcare provider, such as a hospital or specialist, usually gets the legal right to receive funds from your personal injury claim.

This is to recoup any due sums for your accident-related medical care. Medical liens may also hamper the claims procedure. However, getting a lawyer who will stand up for your rights, complete the required papers, and manage the interactions with the hospital and insurance provider is best. Additionally, lien law is incredibly complex.

As a result, a skilled lawyer might discover strategies to minimize or even get rid of the lien. And if you are in the dark regarding any possibilities, the above tips on How to find out if you have a medical lien will aid you immensely.

References

• M. Simkovic; Secret Liens and the Financial Crisis: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1323190
• What is a Medical Lien? – Definition & Requirements: https://study.com/academy/lesson/what-is-a-medical-lien-definition-requirements.html
• Canadian Institute for Health Information; National Health Expenditure Trends: https://web.archive.org/web/20080214090847/http://secure.cihi.ca/cihiweb/dispPage.jsp?cw_page=PG_876_E&cw_topic=876&cw_rel=AR_31_E
• Wise, David A.; Yashiro, Naohiro; Health Care Issues in the United States and Japan. University of Chicago Press: https://doi.org/10.7208%2Fchicago%2F9780226903248.001.0001