Radiology practice pausing debt collections to ease patient anxiety during COVID-19 outbreak
A Tacoma, Washington-based radiology practice said Thursday that it’s taking a 30-day pause on debt collections to help patients financially impacted by the coronavirus.
TRA Medical Imaging said the policy change will take effect immediately and apply across all of its managed locations. The reprieve is on top of the physician-owned practice already offering financial assistance and interest-free repayment plans.
“Our providers and staff are on the frontlines delivering medical care to the communities we serve in a time of unprecedented need. But the financial health and well-being of our community also can’t be ignored,” Douglas Seiler, MD, TRA’s physician president, said in a statement. “Our core value as an organization is simply: patients first. As we all cope with this crisis together, anything we can do to ease the anxiety for our community frankly is the right thing to do.”
The provider had already announced earlier in the week that it was discontinuing nonurgent imaging, in accordance with recommendations from the American College of Radiology and CDC. In addition to all four TRA Medical Imaging practices in Washington, the debt policy also applies at the Carol Milgard Breast Center, five Diagnostic Imaging Northwest locations (run in partnership with MultiCare Health System), and Union Avenue Open MRI (also a hospital partnership with both MCHS and CHI Franciscan Health). TRA said it's also dedicated its Lakewood, Washington, location specifically for imaging symptomatic patients to help minimize risk.
Dating back to 1918, TRA bills itself as one of the largest physician-owned imaging practices in the nation, employing 100-plus radiologists. They interpret about 1.4 million studies annually, serving 12 owned outpatient sites and 14 hospitals in the region, according to the announcement.
The COVID-19 crisis has hit Washington state hard since its start, with more than 3,200 cases and 150 deaths as of Friday.
Marty Stempniak has covered healthcare since 2012, with his byline appearing in the American Hospital Association's member magazine, Modern Healthcare and McKnight's. Prior to that, he wrote about village government and local business for his hometown newspaper in Oak Park, Illinois. He won a Peter Lisagor and Gold EXCEL awards in 2017 for his coverage of the opioid epidemic.