The Cleveland Clinic’s top director over patient financial services left abruptly last week.
His departure comes during a year-long look by The Plain Dealer at hospitals’ medical billing problems, many of which were focused on the Clinic, but the health system said his departure is not related.
Lyman Sornberger, who came to the Clinic in 2006 after nearly two decades at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, said Friday that he was “still in negotiations on my final severance separation” and could not discuss his departure.
“I’m not allowed to say anything to quote, unquote, disparage the Cleveland Clinic or put them at risk,” Sornberger said. “I don’t know what that means.”
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Then, he added, “The reason for departure is my own and we are separating on good terms.”
Sornberger, 53, oversaw the Clinic’s national billing operations as well as revenue cycle at the system, which includes medical coding and records. He managed nearly 2,000 financial service employees, who were tasked with answering the phones in customer service and helping patients understand their bills.
Clinic Spokeswoman Eileen Sheil said the departure is “not related to anything regarding our billing.”
“It’s a personnel matter and we don’t comment publicly on employees,” she said.
The Clinic has appointed Karen Mihalik interim executive director over patient financial services. She is currently senior director over revenue cycle management financial reporting and analysis at the Clinic, according to her online professional networking page on LinkedIn.
The health system’s financial services received positive national attention in April 2010 after a patient being treated for leukemia at the Clinic’s Medina General hospital wrote to President Barack Obama. She had canceled her insurance because of skyrocketing premiums and the hospital stepped up and provided free care.
For the past year, The Plain Dealer has run stories exploring problems with the health care industry’s medical billing practices. Those stories included examples of patients from various health systems, including the Clinic. Sornberger spent hours answering questions and on more than one occasion said he personally reviewed the bills of some patients featured in stories.
The Clinic leads the Northeast Ohio market in the number of patients it serves. It reported 147,300 acute admissions in 2011 and 58,600 emergency room visits. The majority of complaints The Plain Dealer received during its year-long look at billing issues were about the Clinic.
Those complaints have included patients who were troubled by unknown prices, hidden costs, unexpected charges, being billed a facility fee for going to their primary care doctor’s office and patients who thought they were charged for a higher level of care than what was provided. Many patients said they had trouble deciphering their bill from the Clinic.
When Sornberger took over as the Clinic’s executive director of revenue cycle six years ago, he was charged with creating a single statement for patients who often received multiple bills from the doctor, hospital, laboratories and pharmacy.
“We’re trying to make it [the bill] as patient friendly as possible,” Sornberger said during an interview earlier this year. “No one likes getting a bill.”
Plain Dealer reporter Dave Davis contributed to this report.