Unpacking Medical Liens

Medical Liens In Personal Injury Cases: The Basics

In Louisiana, healthcare providers can assert what’s called a medical lien, also known as a healthcare provider privilege, when they treat you for accident-related injuries. That means they can claim part of your settlement to cover their unpaid bills.

Let’s do a quick breakdown of how it all works: If a provider follows the proper legal steps usually sending a certified letter and a copy of your bill they’re entitled to be paid out of your settlement right after attorney’s fees are deducted. This can become a serious issue when there isn’t enough insurance coverage to go around.

If your settlement doesn’t fully cover your pain, suffering, and medical bills, liens can eat into what little remains. That’s where having an experienced attorney becomes all the more critical. We step in to protect your recovery in several ways.

First, we verify whether the provider is even allowed to file a lien, particularly in cases where they should have billed your health insurance or Medicare instead. We also make sure your contractual rights are enforced so you aren’t overcharged by providers who have already agreed to accept lower rates. And when liens are valid, we negotiate to reduce the amounts, helping you keep as much of your settlement as possible.

Filing A Lien

This process is actually surprisingly simple. Under Louisiana law, doctors and hospitals just need to send a certified letter to you or your attorney asserting their claim. In some cases, providers will try to step in line ahead of the injured person by sending that letter directly to the at-fault driver’s insurance company to try to get paid first before you ever see a dime.

That’s why legal representation matters. If this isn’t handled properly, you could end up with less than you deserve, or worse: a settlement check that you can’t even deposit because it’s made out jointly to you and the provider.

Treatment Now, Pay Later

It is possible to use a lien as a way to get treatment now and pay later. In fact, that’s one of the most common ways we help clients access care when they can’t afford upfront costs. There are two main paths:

• Emergency Treatment: Hospitals are legally required to treat you in an emergency, regardless of your insurance status. They’ll likely assert a lien afterward, which we can help you manage.
• Letter Of Protection: If you’re working with an attorney, they can coordinate treatment with providers who trust the firm and agree to get paid after your case settles. These aren’t fly-by-night clinics. They’re real physicians, surgeons, therapists, and specialists who understand the legal process and are willing to wait for payment.

Just remember this: with a letter of protection, you get the care you need now without paying anything out of pocket.

Limits To What Medical Providers Can Charge On A Lien

Unfortunately, Louisiana offers limited protection when it comes to what medical providers can charge under a lien. Some facilities, especially emergency rooms, don’t accept health insurance and may try to bill the full, inflated rack rate for services that your insurer would’ve covered at a fraction of the cost. If you’re not careful, you could be stuck with:

• Unreasonable charges
• Overbilling
• Duplicate charges
• Full-price invoices instead of the discounted rates you should have access to

That’s why we step in to review every bill line by line. We make sure you’re not being overcharged, that providers are honoring any agreements they’ve made, and that the lien itself is even valid and enforceable. It’s about protecting your recovery and making sure you keep what’s rightfully yours. If the numbers don’t make sense, we fight to get them corrected.

Risks Associated With Medical Liens

Medical liens carry one major risk: they can strip you of control over your own settlement. When a lien is filed, it can take priority over your personal recovery. Insurance companies often treat the lien like it’s non-negotiable, cutting the check with the provider’s name on it, even if that leaves you, the injured person, with very little.

That’s why it’s essential to have a legal team working for you that truly knows how to protect your interests. We can step in early on to challenge inflated liens before they’re finalized. When a provider should be billing your health insurance instead, we’ll make sure they actually do. We can also negotiate to reduce lien amounts whenever possible and push back when providers engage in unfair billing practices.

As we often say, the sooner we get involved, the more control we have over the outcome of your case and future well-being.