Rose v. Via Christi Health System, Inc./St. Francis Campus, 276 Kan. 539

Summary

The Supreme Court of Kansas held that federal Medicare law preempted a trial court's order allowing Via Christi to offset its share of a negligence judgment by medical expenses written off under its Medicare agreement. The court also held that the collateral source rule applied to Medicare-paid and written-off medical expenses, affirming admission of the full medical expense evidence. The offset ruling was reversed, and the ruling on the cross-appeal was affirmed.

Holdings

1. A health-care provider may not obtain a general offset against a tort judgment for Medicare-covered medical expenses that it was required to write off under its Medicare provider agreement.
2. The collateral source rule applies to the portion of Via Christi's medical bills written off pursuant to its contract with Medicare; the plaintiff may recover damages based on the reasonable expense of treatment rather than only the amount actually paid by Medicare.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the trial court abused its discretion by permitting Via Christi to offset its share of the judgment by medical expenses written off pursuant to its Medicare provider agreement.
2. Whether the Medicare statute preempted the trial court's offset ruling.
3. Whether the collateral source rule permitted Rose to present evidence of the full reasonable medical expenses, including amounts written off under the Medicare agreement.

Disposition

reversed