Physician staffing firm has sued thousands of Tennessee patients for medical debt

• Media reports have, until now, mostly focused on hospitals' lawsuits, but ProPublica and MLK50's reporting suggest the practice could be more widespread.

Between the lines: TeamHealth has already been in hot water for its role in surprise billing.

• Emergency room physicians frequently send patients surprise medical bills, although TeamHealth doesn't do so, according to a spokesperson.
• These doctors then have leverage to obtain higher in-network payment rates, making the practice lucrative.
• The group is also one of the main funders of the dark-money group that has run millions in ads against what was Congress' leading solution to surprise medical bills.
• The company was acquired by the Blackstone Group in 2017.

By the numbers: The Memphis subsidiary Southeastern Emergency Physicians has filed more than 4,800 lawsuits against patients in Shelby County General Sessions Court since 2017, per ProPublica and MLK50.

• TeamHealth said last week, after receiving questions from reporters, that it will no longer sue patients and won't pursue the lawsuits it's already filed.

Go deeper:

• The risks of private equity in health care
• Private equity's other stake in surprise medical bills
• The White House is unhappy with private equity's surprise medical billing ads'

Editor's note: This story has been corrected to say that TeamHealth no longer sends patients surprise medical bills, a spokesperson told Axios.