Hospital Liens vs. Health Plan Claims in New Hampshire

By the FigureMyTax Editorial Team · How we calculate

A New Hampshire hospital or home health care provider has a lien on your recovery for its reasonable and necessary charges, but it is effective only if it filed written notice with the town or city clerk within 10 days after discharge and before any payment, and mailed a copy by registered mail. A payer who ignores it stays liable for one year.

The lien

RSA 448-A:1 gives a licensed hospital, or a licensed home health care provider, that furnished medical or other services to a patient injured in an accident not covered by workers' compensation a lien on any recovery the patient asserts against another, by judgment or settlement, for the reasonable and necessary charges for treatment, care and maintenance up to the date of payment.

Perfecting it

No lien is effective unless written notice with the patient's name and address, the accident date, the provider and the person alleged to be liable is filed with the clerk of the town or city where the provider is located not later than 10 days after discharge and before any payment to the patient or the attorney, and a copy with the filing date is mailed by registered mail, return receipt requested, to the person liable and to any insurance carrier. The person liable must disclose its insurer on request (448-A:2).

Payer liability

A person or insurer who pays the patient, the attorney or anyone else after the filing and receipt of notice, without paying the provider so far as the money can satisfy it after prior liens, stays liable to the provider for one year from the date of payment and can be sued (448-A:3).

What we did not find

The statute gives no percentage cap on the lien and does not say where your attorney's lien ranks, only that prior liens are paid first. Ask an attorney how your fee is treated. Each town or city clerk keeps a hospital lien docket and charges $15 for filing (448-A:4).

How an insurer's claim differs

A health plan's claim is not a hospital lien; see our post on the made-whole rule. Medicaid and Medicare follow their own rules; see the Medicare and Medicaid post. Enter each claim in the New Hampshire medical lien calculator.

This is general information, not legal advice, and the state comparisons above are illustrative, not an exhaustive survey. Confirm how New Hampshire's rules apply to your specific case with a licensed New Hampshire attorney.