George & Farinas commends the Indiana Trial Lawyers Association ("ITLA") and supports the hard work done during the 2013 Indiana Legislative Session. They were able to successfully pass SB 5 – Hospital Lien and defeat numerous other pieces of legislation that would erode the rights of hard working Hoosiers.

Of critical importance were changes to the Hospital Lien Statute (effective 7/1/13) which now favors patients with personal injury claims. Among the changes are:

• Liens may not be filed against patients covered by Medicare;
• Hospitals MUST reduce the lien by the amount of any benefits to which the patient is entitled under the terms of any contract, health plan, or medical insurance and reflect credits for all payments, adjustments, write-offs or any other benefit in favor of the patient;
• The lien does not apply to injury claims against a disability policy or insurance policies with medical payments coverage;
• If a hospital compromises or settles a claim in an amount less than the lien, the hospital is prohibited from seeking further reimbursement from the patient;
• The hospital may not pursue collection of the amounts owed under the lien until he injury claim is completely resolved;
• The hospital is barred from filing suit against a patient to collect the amount owed until their claim is resolve; and
• The period to file a lien is reduced from 180 days until 90 days after a patient is discharged.

The attorneys of George & Farinas have decades of combined experience in dealing with catastrophic personal injury and wrongful death claims for working men and women. We are Commitment you Can Trust. For questions about your legal options call 888-277-0500.