An appeals court Friday ordered a Central Florida health-care facility to provide information about medical bills in the treatment of two people who said they were injured when an elevator malfunctioned in an Osceola County parking garage.
Lori Blake and Kristie Gilmore sued Osceola County after they were treated for injuries at Sand Lake Surgery Center, according to the ruling by a panel of the 5th District Court of Appeal.
Osceola County requested information from Sand Lake about issues such as medical bills and payments. Sand Lake had sold the accounts to American Medical Funding, a “factoring” company that offers a type of financing for health-care providers.
Sand Lake argued that it could not turn over the requested information because it would be a breach of non-disclosure provisions in a contract with American Medical Funding, the ruling said.
An Osceola County circuit judge backed Sand Lake, but the appeals court said the information should be provided.
“When a health care facility treats a personal injury plaintiff, the defendant being sued is entitled to discover the amount of the original medical bills and any discounts agreed upon when the health care facility sells plaintiff’s unpaid accounts to a factoring company,” said the nine-page ruling, written by Judge James Edwards and joined by Judges Jay Cohen and Rand Wallis.
“That information is typically relevant when plaintiff seeks to recover reasonable medical expenses as part of a lawsuit against the defendant.”
