AllianceHealth, which has more than 500 staffed beds spread out across its hospitals in Clinton, Durant, Madill, Midwest City, Ponca City, Seminole and Woodward, has been one of the state’s most litigious hospital systems both before and after the pandemic occurred.

Its hospitals filed at least 2,540 lawsuits since July 1, 2019, amounting to 44% of all lawsuits identified in Oklahoma Watch’s review of the court records during this time.

Except for a brief pause during much of April, including the time when courts across the state were shut down due to the virus, the hospital system hasn’t seen much of an interruption in taking legal action.

The seven AllianceHealth hospitals have filed nearly 800 lawsuits since April 2.

AllianceHealth Oklahoma spokeswoman Emily Kezbers said bank garnishments across the hospitals have been suspended during the pandemic, regardless of when they received the care. But she said wage garnishments, which are much more common, will continue as before.

Kezbers added the hospital provides “robust” financial assistance and they do not pursue collection suits against “anyone without the means to pay” their bills.

“Legal action is always the last resort, and it is only considered after evaluating a patient’s ability to pay,” she said. “Unfortunately, sometimes legal action is the only avenue through which patients will engage in a conversation about the amount they owe for healthcare services that already have been provided.”

Of the hospitals with a large number of lawsuits identified by Oklahoma Watch, only one reported a major reversal in its billing policies because of the COVID pandemic.

Saint Francis Health System, a Catholic nonprofit group with eight hospitals, including Tulsa’s 1,112-bed Saint Francis Hospital, has been one of the state’s most litigious health groups over the past few years.

The hospital has filed more than 6,200 lawsuits against Oklahomans since the start of 2016. This includes more than 150 lawsuits that were filed since late May.

In a move that was not previously announced to the press until Oklahoma Watch questioned the hospital, the health system said it is ceasing litigation “until further notice” and is working with its debt-collection firm to rollback any cases filed after March 15.

“Once it was clear that COVID-19 was going to have significant and long-term economic impacts, we started working on a plan to suspend seeking legal intervention to debt resolution,” said Lauren Landwerlin, who heads corporate communication for the health system.

SSM Health, which includes Oklahoma City’s 600-bed Saint Anthony Hospital and is one of the state’s other major health systems, also announced in response to Oklahoma Watch’s questions that it also is “wholly” suspending lawsuits during the COVID-19 crisis.

But hospital spokesman Patrick Kampert said the practice is “rare” to begin with. Oklahoma Watch also did not identify a significant number of lawsuits from the health system.

Norman Regional Medical Center and its affiliated hospitals, meanwhile only “paused” its litigation process, said hospital spokeswoman Melissa Herron. The hospital and the debt collection firm it works with stopped filing lawsuits in early April, but it resumed filing them again in June.

Herron said the hospital is continuing its policy of trying to work with patients and using the courts as a “last resort.”

She said unpaid bills for patients who don’t respond to any of the hospital’s attempts to contact are sent to a collection agency after about four months. Litigation is used only after the debt collectors also fail to contact the patient or work out an agreement on a payment plan.

“We make every effort to work with patients to find a successful solution,” Herron said.

She added patients can file a claim for a wage garnishment exemption or set up a payment plan even after litigation has started.

Integris, another of the state’s major health systems, did not respond for comment on whether its billing practices have changed.

But Integris spokeswoman Brooke Cayot told Oklahoma Watch last year that the hospital system doesn’t track the number of lawsuits because they are filed through outside collection attorneys.