Cassandra McDonald, a law and policy analyst who is also a cancer patient at the Cleveland Clinic, told Ideastream Public Media in an exclusive interview that she is planning to file a motion to dismiss her claim against the hospital system over its proposed copay policy.
That policy, which the hospital system pulled before its June 1 effective date, would have required that appointments be rescheduled or canceled for patients who can't make their copay at the time of their non-emergency visit. Instead, the Clinic shifted to a policy that those who are unable to pay before their visits could instead pay their copay over time using a 0% interest payment plan.
However, McDonald was not previously ready to drop her legal claim.
She told Ideastream Public Media at the time that she remained concerned that there was nothing to keep the Cleveland Clinic from changing its mind and returning to requiring those who could not pay their co-pays ahead of time to reschedule their doctor's visits.
McDonald is now planning to dismiss her claim for several reasons, she said.
"Number one, the injunction raised a lot of public interest for the city council and other individuals to take notice, and I think that was huge because it brought to the forefront how egregious those moves were by the Cleveland Clinic," McDonald said.
That attention helped put pressure on the Clinic to pull back from implementing its co-pay policy, she said, adding that the motion to dismiss is a motion without prejudice, meaning she can file the motion for injunction again at any time.
The legal action also informed the public about how extensive this health care problem is and how it reaches beyond people on Medicaid, she said.
"I think it also sheds light on the fact that whether people are working or not, that there is a lot of us that are facing challenging times," McDonald said. "And it's coming to a point where it's not just people who we consider underrepresented and underserved. But it's also individuals who work, but still cannot afford the things that they should be able to, like health care and also need to depend on some type of financial assistance or financial plans."
Additionally, the legal claim, along with her correspondence with Cleveland Clinic leadership calling for greater access to doctors through expanded hours, helped move the Cleveland Clinic in this direction, McDonald said.
Starting July 7, the Cleveland Clinic will extend its hours for primary care and specialty appointments, including digestive disease, cardiology, neurology, obstetrics, gynecology and pediatrics, a June 17 Cleveland Clinic news release stated. Appointments will be available at most Northeast Ohio locations until 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday and from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays.
The Cleveland Clinic will also extend the hours of its surgical services offering certain outpatient surgeries and procedures on Saturdays beginning July 26 at Lutheran Hospital, with Avon Hospital, Beachwood Ambulatory Surgery Center and Twinsburg Ambulatory Surgery Center adding Saturday procedures and operations in August. These surgical services will include urology, digestive disease, orthopedics and gynecology, the release stated.
McDonald said she's also dropping her claim because of possible state legislation that would prevent the Clinic or other Ohio hospitals from implementing upfront copayment policies.
“The state legislation not only will hold Cleveland Clinic to a different standard, but hospitals operating in Ohio," she said. "I think the state legislation will hold them to a higher ethical standard.”
The draft bill, known as the “Patient Financial Protection Act,” would prevent hospitals from enforcing upfront copay mandates. The bill is sponsored by Democratic Ohio Rep. Elgin Rogers and has yet to be formally introduced. However, given that Republicans control both houses of the state legislature, the legislation could face significant challenges without obtaining bipartisan support.
The Clinic declined to comment on this story.
