Hospital Liens vs. Health Plan Claims in Oklahoma

By the FigureMyTax Editorial Team · How we calculate

An Oklahoma hospital has a lien on your recovery and on money an insurer owes you, for its reasonable and necessary charges, but it is inferior to your attorney's lien. It is effective only if written notice was filed with the county clerk before any payment and copies were sent by registered or certified mail.

The lien

42 O.S. 43 gives every hospital that furnishes emergency medical or other service to a patient injured in an accident not covered by workers' compensation a lien on any recovery, by judgment or settlement, for the reasonable and necessary charges up to the date of payment. A second lien reaches money payable by an insurer to the injured person. Both are inferior to the lien of the attorney handling the claim. The section also covers non-affiliated diagnostic imaging facilities in referred cases.

Perfecting it

Section 44 says no lien is effective unless a written notice with the amount claimed, the injured person, the accident date, the hospital and the persons alleged to be liable is filed with the county clerk of the hospital's county, on the mechanic's and materialman's docket, before any payment to you or your attorney, and copies are sent by registered or certified mail to the person liable, its insurer if known, the patient and the patient's attorney.

Enforcement

The lien may be enforced by a civil action in the district court of the county where it was filed, brought within one year after the hospital becomes aware of the final judgment, settlement or compromise.

Physician liens

Physicians and other healing-arts professionals who treated you for an injury caused by another have a similar lien on your recovery that is also inferior to your attorney's lien (42 O.S. 46). We did not read its filing rules, and we found no percentage cap on either lien.

How an insurer's claim differs

A health plan's claim is not a hospital lien; see our post on health plan reimbursement. Medicaid and Medicare follow their own rules; see the Medicare and Medicaid post. Enter each claim in the Oklahoma medical lien calculator.

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