Verity Health debtors seek payment of $25.37 million from L.A. Care

By Caroline Salls

Pittsburgh, Jan. 4 – Verity Health System of California, Inc. units St. Vincent Medical Center and St. Francis Medical Center filed a lawsuit Thursday against the Local Initiative Health Authority for Los Angeles County, which does business as L.A. Care Health Plan, seeking payment of $25.37 million allegedly owed under two hospital services agreement claims.

According to the complaint filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California, L.A. Care owes $21.05 million to St. Francis Medical Center and $4.32 million to St. Vincent Medical Center, both of which are debtors in the Verity Health bankruptcy proceedings.

The debtors said St. Vincent and L.A. Care entered into a hospital per diem services agreement on July 1, 1998 under which L.A. Care agreed to compensate St. Vincent for covered medical services rendered by it to L.A. Care’s members at agreed upon rates.

St. Vincent alleges that it has not received payment or did not receive enough payment for at least 606 fee-for-service claims submitted to L.A. Care for the period of Nov. 2, 2017 to Dec. 3, 2018.

Meanwhile, the complaint alleges that St. Francis has not received proper payment for at least 2,134 claims it submitted under a March 31, 2003 hospital services agreement for the same period.

The debtors are also seeking payment on interest and $359,160 in alleged unauthorized setoffs.

Verity is a Los Angeles-based nonprofit health care system. The company filed bankruptcy on Aug. 31, 2018 under Chapter 11 case number 18-20151.

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