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Examining Medical Debt Legal and Collection Practices
Recently, the major credit reporting agencies announced changes to how medical debt will be treated on credit reports. Following two years of a pandemic the spotlight has been placed on the complicated road to recovering medical debt. Adding to the already highly regulated debt collection space there are even more considerations for law firms to be aware of especially when contemplating litigation.
It is critical for creditor rights law firms to understand every aspect of the process to prevent severe legal and reputational risks.
In this webinar, subject matter experts, attorneys, Leslie Bender and John Bedard provide a road map to effectively navigating medical debt recovery in 2022.
The program will:
- Explain the regulations around first-party and third-party medical debt collection, including the CFPB’s Regulation F, Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) and state debt collection laws.
- Review how medical debt collection laws vary by state across a range of critical areas, including communicating with consumers, disclosing debt information to third parties, statute of limitations and providing the right to dispute.
- Reveal the missteps that could cause regulatory scrutiny or even defending legal actions.
John H. Bedard Jr., Bedard Law Group, P.C.
John is an AV rated attorney and nationally recognized authority on the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and the Fair Credit Reporting Act. He serves as counsel to several professional trade associations, including the Georgia Collectors Association. John is a published writer on industry topics and a former member of the Board of Directors of the industry's leading professional trade organization, ACA International, The Association of Credit and Collection Professionals. John is recognized by Collection Advisor magazine as one of the nation's top 50 most influential people in the collection industry. He serves as the State of Georgia Compliance Chairperson for ACA International and is a former Chairperson and Program Designation award recipient of ACA International's Members Attorney Program. John is a nationally recognized speaker and travels the country training collectors and educating industry associations, clients, and vendors who provide products and services to the industry. John is licensed to practice law only in Georgia and Tennessee. John received a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics from the Pennsylvania State University and a Juris Doctor degree from Syracuse University College of Law. He has spent his entire career serving the credit and collection industries.
Leslie Bender, Senior Counsel, Eversheds Sutherland
Leslie Bender counsels financial services and healthcare clients on a broad range of privacy, data security, and consumer financial protection laws.
She provides counsel on matters including privacy, consumer financial protection, HIPAA, data security, labor and employment, litigation, contracts, alternative dispute resolution and mediation, government affairs, regulatory relations, and change and project management. Leslie has more than two decades of experience in privacy and consumer financial protection and related regulatory relations before various federal and state regulators.
In addition, Leslie has more than 30 years of experience working with financial institutions, collection agencies, and as a compliance consultant and trainer for hospitals. Recognized as a national authority on information privacy and security law, she was one of the first privacy officers accredited by the International Association of Privacy Professionals as a Certified Information Privacy Professional. She is both a credentialed privacy officer, a CIPP/US, and a credentialed credit/collection professional, IFCCE (International Fellowship of Credit and Collections Executives).
Prior to joining Eversheds Sutherland, Leslie served as the Chief Strategy Officer and General Counsel for BCA Financial Services, Inc. Before that, she was general counsel and vice president of government affairs at ARS National Services in Escondido, California.
