Judge dismisses Temple University Hospital suit against Amtrak

A federal judge in Philadelphia on Wednesday dismissed a lawsuit by Temple University Hospital against Amtrak seeking $1.63 million in reimbursement for the treatment of a patient injured in Amtrak's May 2015 derailment in Port Richmond that killed eight and seriously injured 43.

Temple provided inpatient treatment to 14 of the injured passengers. Amtrak, which hired Russell Reimbursement Advisors Inc. and MCMC LLC, paid $2.75 million to cover the care for 13 of them, and refused to pay the demanded $1.63 million for the remaining injured passenger.

That passenger, identified as A.L. in court documents, was insured by Medicare, but Temple did not submit a claim to Medicare in time to be reimbursed, according the memorandum accompanying U.S. District Court Judge Legrome D. Davis. Medicare would have paid $269,469 for A.L.'s inpatient treatment, the document said.

Temple University Hospital, which first brought the lawsuit in May 2016 and has taken it through several iterations "has had three opportunities and ample time to plead a plausible case against Amtrak, RRA, and MCMC, but has not done so," Davis wrote in his opinion dismissing the case.

Temple University Health System, which had $1.64 billion in revenue in the year ended June 30, said: "We believe that Temple University Hospital is entitled to receive the full amount of payment that the parties agreed to in writing for the lifesaving services our outstanding trauma team and other providers rendered to the victims of the Amtrak tragedy, and for which the hospital's caregivers were nationally recognized. We are disappointed with this decision and are evaluating next steps."