Tuesday's Number: $1,158,080

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

• five new judgments to hospitals, doctors, or other medical providers, totaling $1,164,316
• two satisfied judgments for $16,630 and
• one bankruptcy, for $10,394

Here’s the breakdown by hospital:

• Crouse had two, totaling $13,666
• St. Joe's had one, for $10,394
• SUNY Upstate had two (the satisfied judgments), for a net negative $16,630

Where’s the rest? An infusion provider ($6,352) and a surgical practice ($6,330) had some of it.  

The balance was a filing by a rehab center/nursing home for $1,137,968 against the estate of a former patient. I can't even imagine what it would be like to get that bill, and to have had a loved one need care of that nature for such a period of time that a bill of that amount could be accrued. 

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