Lori Swanson - Activities

Activities

In 2009, Swanson filed a lawsuit against National Arbitration Forum (NAF), at that time the largest consumer arbitration organization in the country. NAF had been criticized by consumer advocacy groups, U.S. Senators, and Public Citizen for bias against consumers. Swanson alleged that NAF was owned by a group of equity funds that also were simultaneously affiliated with a national debt collection agency, Axiant, and the administration of the largest collection law firm at the time, Mann Brakken. In July 2009 NAF signed a consent order with Swanson agreeing to stop arbitrating consumer claims. Shortly thereafter, Axiant and Mann Bracken went out of business.

In 2012, Swanson filed a lawsuit against Accretive Health, Inc. of Chicago, a hospital collection agency. The lawsuit resulted in hearings before the U.S. Senate and the issuance of a multi-volume compliance report involving Fairview Health Systems in Minnesota. In July 2012, Accretive signed a consent order under which it paid a $2.5 million civil penalty and agreed not to do business in Minnesota for up to six years. Accretive is believed to be the only current member of the New York Stock Exchange which is affirmatively barred from doing business in a state. In September 2012, the Center for Medicare/Medicaid Services (CMS) determined that Accretive’s actions at Fairview Health Systems subjected patients to “abuse and harassment,” and resulted in violations of the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (“EMTALA”), the federal anti-patient dumping law.