A Health Affairs study released on December 6 found that hospital lawsuits related to unpaid medical bills increased by 37% in Wisconsin between 2001 and 2018, and were disproportionately directed at Black patients and at patients living in poorer counties. In this first study on long-term trends in hospital lawsuits, the researchers also found, among other things, that hospitals sued 1.53 per 1,000 Wisconsinites in 2018; the average lawsuit size stayed fairly consistent during the study period, varying between $2,522 and $3,939; and non-profit hospitals were more likely to sue patients than their for-profit counterparts.