Article - May 28, 2008 - Business Gazette

Medical group to refund $70K
Attorney General’s Office says administrative fees were illegal

By Joe Beck

A Germantown clinic has agreed to refund patients $40 each as part of a settlement reached with the Maryland Attorney General’s Office, which accused the practice of charging an illegal fee.

Germantown Primary Care Associates, at 19500 Amaranth Drive, violated the state’s Consumer Protection Act and Consumer Debt Collection Act, according to a statement from the Attorney General’s Office. The settlement agreement states the clinic ‘‘engaged in unfair or deceptive practices” in soliciting, billing and collecting administrative fees from insured patients.

The clinic will pay more than $70,000 to patients under terms of the settlement, according to Raquel Guillory, a spokeswoman with the Attorney General’s Office.

Bill Askinazi, a lawyer who represented the clinic in the case, denied the clinic broke any laws. He said the practice sought a $40 voluntary annual contribution per family in an effort to offset malpractice premiums, low rates of state reimbursement for serving impoverished patients and ‘‘fiscal squeezing from
health insurance companies.”

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