Accretive Health CEO Mary Tolan has pledged to deliver a full response to a series of questions that U.S. Sen. Al Franken posed last month about the company's debt-collection practices and commitment to securing patient privacy.
In a call with Wall Street analysts Wednesday, Tolan said she plans to have answers to those questions and a full response to a blistering report that Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson complied on the Chicago-based firm.
The call was scheduled and not in response to Swanson's report, which alleged that Accretive used illegal tactics that violated debt-collection and consumer protection laws to collect payments from patients at Fairview Health Services hospitals in Minnesota.
"I requested information from Accretive because I am concerned about the allegations in Attorney General Swanson's report and I want to hear all sides of this story," Franken said in a statement. "The amount of time that I gave Accretive to respond to my questions was more than reasonable and I'm frustrated that I still don't have a response yet. Accretive's CEO has publicly stated that they will get me answers to my questions by Friday and I'm hopeful that they will follow through on their commitment this time."
Accretive has already failed to meet two deadlines, May 4 and 7, that Franken sent to respond to his questions. The company is confident they'll meet the latest cutoff date and have response to the senator by the end of business Friday, said Jonathan Dedmon, an Accretive spokesman.
"That's absolutely the plan right now," Dedmon said.
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emmanuel inserted himself in the debate this week, asking Swanson to back off Accretive until the company is ready to respond to the report and allegations. Swanson has vowed to press on.
Here's a copy of the letter Franken sent to Accretive Health in late April:
