Archives for January 2022

On January 18, 2022, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it filed a proposed final judgment and order with a federal district court that, if entered by the court, would resolve a March 2021 lawsuit it brought against BrightSpeed Solutions and its founder Kevin Howard. 

The CFPB alleges that between 2016 and 2018, BrightSpeed and Howard knowingly assisted companies profiting from fraudulent services and products. BrightSpeed and Howard processed payments for companies that claimed to offer technical-support services and products to consumers over the internet, but in reality, the companies tricked consumers into purchasing expensive and unnecessary antivirus software or services.

Many of the targeted consumers were older adults unaware of clickbait scams and that the software and services they purchased were actually available for free. If entered by the court, the order would require BrightSpeed and Howard to pay a civil penalty of $500,000 and permanently bar them from multiple consumer financial products and services industries.

“BrightSpeed and Kevin Howard profited by helping bad actors scam older adults,” said CFPB Director Rohit Chopra. “We must do more to ensure our nation’s payments systems are not used to defraud older adults.”

Chicago-based BrightSpeed was a privately owned, third-party payment processor founded in 2015 and operated by Howard. BrightSpeed ceased operations in March 2019. From 2016 to 2018, BrightSpeed and Howard processed remotely created check payments for more than 100 client companies totaling more than $70 million. A remotely created check payment is often produced by a payee or its service provider and drawn from a consumer’s bank account. The check often is authorized by the consumer remotely, over the telephone or the internet, and it does not require the consumer’s handwritten signature.

The CFPB alleges that many of BrightSpeed’s client companies purported to provide antivirus software and technical-support services to consumers, particularly older adults, but they instead scammed consumers into purchasing unnecessary and expensive computer software and services for amounts as high as $2,000. The client companies allegedly sold their products and services through fraudulent telemarketing schemes and received payments through remotely created checks processed by BrightSpeed. 

Specifically, the CFPB alleges that BrightSpeed and Howard harmed consumers by Continuing to process the scammers’ remotely created check payments for months and, in some cases, years. BrightSpeed and Howard did so despite being aware of nearly 1,000 consumer complaints, several inquiries from police departments around the country, two banks raising concerns about their client companies, and payment return rates averaging more than 20% (a common return rate standard is 15%).

NEW YORK, N.Y. — In collaboration with RIP Medical Debt (RIP), a national 501(c)(3) nonprofit, Vituity, a physician owned and led multispecialty partnership, is proud to share that more than 46,000 patients in Oregon and Washington have had their outstanding medical debt on qualified invoices abolished, totaling $25.4 million. This is RIP’s first debt abolishment in collaboration with a physician group.  

According to the annual survey from Discover Personal Loans conducted in September 2021, three in four Americans owe more than $2,000 in medical debt. This survey found that Americans with medical debt are more anxious about the cost of their medical services than their health.  

[article_ad]  In another study published in The Journal of the American Medical Association, medical debt is identified as the No. 1 source of debt collections, surpassing debt in collections from credit cards, utilities, auto loans, and other sources combined. Poor communities, who have limited means in addition to limited choices for care, are hit hardest by medical debt.  

“Vituity is committed to addressing the financial strain on low-income individuals resulting from their healthcare bills”, says Theo Koury, MD, President of Vituity. “Removing barriers to patient care and making it more accessible is central to our mission, and partners like RIP Medical Debt eliminate some of the financial burden that often deters patients from seeking the care they need and deserve.” 

RIP’s debt abolishment criteria included debt incurred through emergency department or hospital medicine visits within a six-year period by patients or guarantors who meet RIP’s criteria for relief (household income between 0-200% of current Federal Poverty Guidelines or debt(s) represent 5% or more of annual household income). 

 “Since being approved by the Department of Health & Human Services to work directly with healthcare providers to abolish burdensome medical debts, RIP has sought out partners who share our vision of removing the financial and emotional burden of medical debt”, says Allison Sesso, RIP’s executive director. “We’re proud to be working with Vituity, the first physician group with which we’ve collaborated, to repair the financial standing of so many families during these exceedingly trying times.”  

Patients for whom this debt relief has been extended have no obligation to pay this debt to anyone, at any future time, and also do not earn any income or owe any taxes on this cancellation of debt. Those receiving debt abolishment will be notified by a branded RIP envelope sent to their address in late January/February.  

About RIP 

Since being founded in 2014 by two former debt collectors, RIP Medical Debt has acquired — and abolished — more than $5.6 billion of burdensome medical debt, helping over 3 million families and addressing a major social determinant of health. RIP partners with individuals, faith-based organizations, foundations, and corporations and empowers donors by converting every dollar contributed into $100 of medical debt relief.  

RIP partners with hospitals and health systems and physician groups to acquire medical debt for abolishment. RIP rose to national prominence on an episode of HBO’s “Last Week Tonight” with John Oliver in which RIP facilitated the abolishment of $15M in medical debt.  

In December of 2020, philanthropist MacKenzie Scott donated $50 million to RIP to help uplift struggling communities. To learn more, visit: https://ripmedicaldebt.org/hospitals/# 

About Vituity 

For 50 years, Vituity has been raising the standard of care and transforming how, when and where care is delivered. As a physician owned and led multispecialty partnership, our 5,000 doctors and clinicians care for nearly 8 million patients annually across 450 practice locations and nine acute care specialties. 

Vituity’s patient focus and commitment to clinical excellence are the driving forces that place us at the heart of better care. Our frontline clinicians and business leaders develop healthcare solutions that improve outcomes for patients and hospitals. Our innovation hub, Inflect Health identifies early-stage health-tech companies and facilitates a connection to physicians for testing and our charitable foundation, Vituity Cares, extends our reach into communities that are most affected by healthcare disparities.

Vituity is driven to continually transform healthcare through our collective passion for patients. 

Well here’s huge news.

In a short opinion which came out on January 19, 2022–that is, unfortunately, non-binding authority because it was not published– the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has held that Facebook’s FN7 was merely dicta and that dialers that call in the order in which numbers are received are not thereby rendered autodialers under the TCPA. In Meier v. Allied Interstate Llc, No. 20-55286, 2022 U.S. App. LEXIS 1413 (9th Cir. January 19, 2022) the Court analyzed a challenge to LiveVox’s (famous) HCI system. HCI operates as a “click to dial” system but–as we know–post Facebook clicking to dial doesn’t really matter anymore. What matters is whether numbers are produced or stored using a Random or Sequential Number Generator (RoSNG).

[article_ad]

It was undisputed in Meier that HCI does not generate numbers using an RoSNG–the question is whether it stored numbers using an RoSNG.

Plaintiff argued that it did store numbers using an RoSNG because it dialed numbers sequentially in the order in which they are received from a client. (Notably I doubt that’s the way the system actually operates–but that was the argument as framed to the court.) In Plaintiff’s view, dialing on a FIFO basis is sequential dialing.

The Ninth Circuit was not impressed. Recognizing that any dialing pattern is necessarily a sequence, adopting the Plaintiff’s–bad–argument would convert all dialers into ATDS anew.

And while Meier is seemingly a pretty narrow ruling it contains great language on Facebook’s problematic Fn7 that Defendants should take to heart:

[Fn7] was not central to the Court’s analysis of the equipment at issue in Duguid, and it does not require us to adopt Meier’s expansive interpretation. The LiveVox system does not qualify as an ATDS merely because it stores pre-produced lists of telephone numbers in the order in which they are uploaded. Meier’s TCPA claims therefore fail.

Yes!

The Court also came very close to an outright rejection of a future capacity argument, although it doesn’t quite get there.

The Plaintiff argued–again badly, because it didn’t matter to begin with–that HCI was part of a larger suite of software offered by LiveVox and that LiveVox’s other dialers qualify as an ATDS. So, the argument goes, HCI is also an ATDS since the LiveVox system has the capacity to be an ATDS.

In the first place nothing about the Meier court’s ruling suggests that LiveVox’s other dialers are an ATDS to begin with. So again, weird argument.

But the Court was not buying the “they can switch to a different mode” argument–which we have seen other courts adopt.

Instead, the Meier panel held that only the mode in which the calls were actually made to the Plaintiff matter:

And although Allied had access to both the HCI and the Automated dialers, there is no dispute that each of the calls to Meier’s cell phone was made using the HCI dialer. The fact that LiveVox offers multiple dialers to its customers does not bring every call that LiveVox makes within the scope of the TCPA. The district court thus correctly concluded that the HCI dialer does not qualify as an ATDS.

Wow.

This is obviously a huge win for LiveVox and a great ruling for callers, ameliorated somewhat by the fact that the ruling is unpublished–booo!–and therefore cannot be relied on safely as precedent.

Still, I think Meier definitely takes the “all dialers are ATDS because they can call sequentially” argument off the table. It should also weaken FN7 arguments in the Ninth Circuit footprint–where they were already pretty weak already.

I am less convinced that the capacity argument is settled in the Ninth Circuit and I’d strongly advise callers not to grow enamored of the “it’s how we actually make calls and not the capacity of the system that matters” argument. Sensible though that is, Courts in the Ninth Circuit and elsewhere commonly look at capacity of the system–the word is in the definition after all–and not just the actual use of the system in assessing ATDS issues.

Still, let’s celebrate today–even as we are watchful of tomorrow.

Prodigal, a software company whose technology is pioneering collection intelligence, is excited to announce that its customer, CCMR3, a premier debt collection agency has achieved 100% coverage on call audits and compliance automation using its machine learning platform, ProVoice.

“Automated call scoring and highly customizable tags on the ProVoice platform are ground-breaking in the Accounts Receivable Management industry,” said Jacob Corlyon, CEO of CCMR3. “This technology allows us to monitor all customer interactions to ensure every exchange meets our empathetic, people-first approach and standard” he added.

ProVoice utilizes proprietary machine learning models to evaluate 100% of call center agents’ interactions. This helps compliance teams save 90%+ of their time conducting audits.

The Accounts Receivables Management (ARM) industry ensures that consumers and small businesses who pay their respective outstanding debt(s) on time have access to credit at affordable interest rates. It continues to be the cornerstone in the credit ecosystem and a major influence behind credit availability to consumers in the U.S., Canada, and abroad.

Like every other industry during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the ARM industry is also undergoing wide-scale digitization of core operations like debt collection. That, catalyzed by a fundamental shift in remote work, has driven companies like CCMR3 to employ next-generation technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI) to streamline their operations.

The ProVoice platform helps CCMR3 in maximizing the accuracy & effectiveness of compliance & quality assurance oversight. It also helps CCMR3’s customers find long-lasting payment solutions that put them on the path to financial success.

“With ProVoice, we can audit 100% of our customer interactions. It provides us with highly accurate operations analytics and insights that help us materially improve our QA efficiency. The platform is flexible, intuitive & easy to implement, and provides ROI from Day 1” said Joseph Conlon, Director of Operations, CCMR3.

The platform does this by capturing intelligence from every call interaction and provides an aggregated and searchable view into which parts of which conversations did or didn’t meet or include any number of pre-designed, configurable, and easily augmentable “tags”. As a result, its rapid assessment of 100% of customer conversations brings to light the specific conversations or themes that need immediate attention.

Forward-looking debt buyers are increasingly realizing the boundless potential of such powerful AI tools for efficient debt collection processes.

Excited by the adoption of ProVoice in healthcare collections, Prodigal’s CEO, Shantanu Gangal, said, “CCMR3 is a very forward-looking customer, and We are excited to partner with them as they set new standards for healthcare revenue cycle and collections. Prodigal continues to build superior automation products for the ARM industry, thanks to customers like CCMR3”.

With its powerful set of AI solutions, the team at Prodigal is determined to continue this success moving forward and help businesses in the Accounts Receivables Management industry recover debts and maximize revenue.

About CCMR3:

CCMR3 is a premier debt collection agency committed to providing professional and ethical collections services in multiple industries. It is a member of ACA International, New York State Collectors Association, Receivables Management Association, International Association of Commercial Collectors, and Healthcare Financial Management Association.

About Prodigal:

Prodigal is a platform for AI-powered workflow automation solutions in financial services and debt collection call center environments. It aims to minimize compliance risk and maximize collection revenue while optimizing loan servicing and debt collection operations. The platform provides both real-time AI and post-call AI solutions for businesses. To learn more about Prodigal, visit: www.prodigaltech.com.

GENESEO, N.Y.  – Coast Professional, Inc. (Coast) is excited to announce the promotion of Christopher Woodworth to Senior Vice President of Operations. Mr. Woodworth has more than 20 years of experience managing high-performing teams and has demonstrated proficiency in policy generation and trend forecasting. He began his career at Coast as a Branch Manager in 2008. In 2020, Mr. Woodworth became Coast’s Government Relations Facilitator and has been instrumental in the company’s establishment of large-scale government contracts.

During Mr. Woodworth’s Coast career, the company has achieved significant milestones including four first-place finishes on a large federal government contract. Throughout his tenure, Coast has opened additional call centers and received national award recognitions including four years on Inc. Magazine’s Inc. 5000’s Fastest-Growing Private Companies in America. 

In his new role as Senior Vice President of Operations, Mr. Woodworth will be responsible for managing corporate projects, developing and adhering to budgets, and the execution of the company’s short-and long-term growth plans. This includes the oversight of collection contracts, including those associated with federal, state, court, and higher education clients. 

According to Coast Chief Executive Officer, Jonathan Prince, Woodworth’s experience is key to the company’s ongoing success and growth. 

“Christopher is an exceptional, intuitive leader who has been instrumental in Coast’s growth and overall success,” said Prince. “His ambition, integrity, and unwavering commitment to succeed has resulted in this well-deserved promotion. Congratulations, Christopher, on this incredible achievement.” 

Mr. Woodworth is an active member in his community, church, and volunteers for his local Cub Scout pack. He is currently pursuing his master’s degree in business administration from St. Bonaventure University. Mr. Woodworth and his wife, Olivia, live in Mt. Morris, NY with their four children. 

 [article_ad]

About Coast Professional, Inc.:

Coast Professional, Inc. is a full-service accounts receivable management and contact center company dedicated to respectful and ethical communication with consumers. Coast provides essential call center services to hundreds of clients including federal, state, and county governments; higher education institutions; municipalities; and courts. Coast is an eight-time honoree on the Inc. 5000 list for America’s Fastest-Growing Private Companies provided by Inc. Magazine and in 2021, was recognized for the sixth time as one of the “Best Places to Work In Collections” by insideARM.com and Best Companies Group. Since 1976, Coast has worked closely with clients to increase recoveries by assisting consumers in resolving their financial obligations. Coast’s success is exemplified by exceptional recoveries, superior service, and dedication to the highest levels of compliance. More information about Coast can be found at www.coastprofessional.com.