If a hospital admits you within 72 hours of a crash caused by someone else, it gets a lien on your claim under Property Code chapter 55. The lien must be filed with the county clerk, and it is capped at the lesser of the first 100 days of charges or half of your recovery.
Texas gives hospitals a way to be paid from injury settlements. Under Property Code section 55.002, a hospital has a lien on the claim of a person it treats for injuries from an accident attributed to someone else’s negligence, if the person is admitted within 72 hours after the accident. Emergency medical services providers have similar liens in counties of 800,000 or fewer people.
The lien has to be secured. Section 55.005 requires the hospital to give you notice and file written notice of the lien with the county clerk where the services were provided, before money is paid out. Lawyers check the county records before any settlement.
The amount is limited. Under section 55.004, the lien is the lesser of the hospital’s charges for the first 100 days of hospitalization or 50 percent of everything you recover, and if a jury sets an amount for hospital charges, that amount less a share of attorney’s fees. It can also include certain physician charges for emergency care.
Liens bind the settlement. Section 55.007 says a release is not valid against a properly filed lien unless the hospital’s charges were paid or the hospital joins in the release. Insurers know this and will put the hospital on the check if the lien is not resolved.
Liens are negotiable. Hospitals often reduce them, particularly when coverage is limited or the charges exceed what insurers would pay. Owsley Law Firm verifies every lien, challenges unreasonable charges, and negotiates reductions so more of the settlement goes to you.
What to do, step by step
- Ask every hospital whether it filed a lien and in which county.
- Have your lawyer search the county clerk’s records.
- Get an itemized bill and compare it to the lien.
- Apply the 100-day and 50 percent limits in section 55.004.
- Negotiate and resolve the lien before signing the release.
A lien attaches only if you were admitted within 72 hours of the accident. Emergency room visits without admission may not qualify.
If health insurance or Medicare paid the hospital, the hospital’s ability to keep billing you or to assert a lien can be limited by the payer’s rules and contracts.
Hospitals sometimes refuse to bill health insurance and file a lien instead, hoping to collect full charges from the settlement. Whether that is allowed can depend on the hospital’s contract with your health plan, so give the hospital your insurance information and ask your lawyer to review the lien.
Physician groups, ambulance companies, and radiology providers may bill separately from the hospital. Not all of them hold liens under chapter 55, but all of them may send bills, and every one should be accounted for in the settlement statement.
A lien claim should match the hospital’s itemized bill and only include care for crash injuries. Lawyers compare the two line by line, and errors such as duplicate charges or unrelated services are a common source of reductions.
Mistakes that cost people money
- Assuming a lien does not exist because no one mentioned it.
- Paying a lien in full without checking the limits.
- Signing a release that ignores a filed lien.
- Overlooking ambulance and physician charges included in the lien.
Related questions
Can a hospital lien take my whole settlement?
No. Section 55.004 limits it to the lesser of the first 100 days of charges or half of your recovery.
Does a lien cover doctors?
It can include a physician’s reasonable charges for emergency hospital care in the first 100 days, under section 55.004.
What if the hospital never filed the lien?
Section 55.005 requires filing with the county clerk before money is paid, so an unfiled lien does not bind the settlement the same way.
Does a hospital lien apply if I was not admitted?
Section 55.002 requires admission within 72 hours of the accident for the hospital lien to attach.
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