I commend Senator Franken's efforts to provide more consumer protections against overreaching collection practices.

I am very disappointed in the system that employed me for so many years.

I understand they knew about your condition, obviously, from your medical records, so they should have been aware that you were in a compromised state.

I think that's probably because just about everyone needs medical attention at some point in his or her life, so these issues affect all of us.

I think that the agreement really reflects what are community standards in our State and would, frankly, be good policy for Congress to look at for the whole country.

If these allegations turn out to be true, would they violate any part of Accretive's contract with Fairview?

The attorney general's report discusses what she calls a culture clash between Accretive and Fairview.

What steps did Fairview take to protect patients from inappropriate debt collections?

we believe that Accretive Health has acted reasonably and appropriately to protect PHI, both in response to the July 2011 laptop theft and more broadly.

I was very disturbed, Mr. Mooty, by the allegations that Accretive was badgering patients in Fairview's emergency room.

What do we do to make sure to detect somebody like that? We have a--all of our collectors, we do a quality scoring of two calls every day that we listen to, and not just for compliance with law but for tone, for conduct, for…

Doesn't an e-mail like this make you concerned about the culture in the call center?

So, Senator, again, I said in my opening statement we will strive to be better every day.

Privacy is a bedrock principle of the doctor-patient relationship.

My main goal here is to figure out whether existing law is adequate to protect Minnesotans like you when you go to the hospital.

We have debt collection laws for a reason, to protect consumers.

I look forward to working with Fairview and all of Minnesota's health care leaders to make sure that patients are fully protected.

I'm worried that if patients know they'll be asked for pre-payment of services, that they'll stop going to the emergency room when they're sick.