Tuesday's Number: $552,544

Tuesday is the day my local paper, the Syracuse Post-Standard, publishes the weekly business section. In addition to special features, tips from stock experts, budgeting advice and the like, we get the judgment and bankruptcy listings.

Since mid-2012, I’ve been tracking health care related filings. I include anything that is likely a patient debt owed to a hospital, nursing home, physician or physician group, medical supplier, and so on; I do not include filings by insurance companies, many of which are so diversified it would not be a fair assumption that the filing is related to medical care or health insurance.

This week, there were

·         24 new judgments to hospitals, doctors, or other medical providers, totaling $525,314

·         two satisfied judgments for $15,455 and

·         two bankruptcies, for $42,685

Here’s the breakdown by hospital:

·         Crouse had three, with a net credit of $4,215

·         SUNY Upstate had eighteen, totaling $458,509

A local rehab center (six filings, $90,451) and Catskills area hospital ($7,799) accounted for the other $23,250. Crouse had the net negative because the two satisfied judgments were greater than the single open judgement filed this week.

The paper publishes only those accounts of at least $5,000.