Valhalla hospital network accused of dodging payments for nurses

A temp agency that provided health care professionals to a Valhalla hospital network claims it has not been paid for a year.

Trusted Health Inc. is demanding $1.1 million from WMC Health Network and five hospitals, in a complaint filed on Aug. 15 in Westchester Supreme Court.

WMC was invoiced, bills were never contested, assurances of payments were made, and more than a year later the staffing agency is still awaiting payment, the complaint states, “thus necessitating this lawsuit to recover amounts due.”

Trusted Health is a San Francisco company that places nurses and other health care professionals, such as lab technicians and therapists, in temporary jobs.

WMC Health Network is a consortium of nine Hudson Valley hospitals, based in Valhalla. The hospitals named in the lawsuit are Westchester Medical Center and MidHudson Regional Hospital in Valhalla; Good Samaritan Hospital, Suffern; HealthAlliance Hospital, Kingston; and Margaretville Memorial Hospital in Delaware County.

WMC and Trusted Health struck a deal for staffing services on Aug. 1, 2023, according to the complaint, that required the hospital network to pay undisputed and properly submitted invoices within 90 days.

WMC has raised no objections, disputes, questions or concerns about invoices, the complaint states, yet for a year the network has failed to pay the staffing company.

WMC assured Trusted Health that is was working on payments on rare occasions, according to the complaint. On Dec. 27, 2023, for instance, an accounts payable manager allegedly said, “We have you on the Critical payment list with our next check run. I do not have a definite total of how many invoices will be paid but we are working to bring [the] account current.”

No payment was made, Trusted Health claims.

On March 22, 2024, the accounts payable manager allegedly stated in an email: “We are working on paying our balances down. I will call you next week to discuss the account.”

Trusted Health say no follow-up call was made.

The temp agency sent a formal demand letter of May 15. Since then, it has communicated with the network’s legal affairs office, but “no resolution or payment has been forthcoming.”

As of Aug. 8, WMC owed $1.1 million, not including interest, according to the complaint. Trusted Health is demanding that sum for alleged breach of contract.

In reply to a request for WMC’s side of the story, spokesman Andrew LaGuardia said the network does not comment on active litigation.

Trusted Health is represented by Purchase attorney Andrew Schriever, of Prince Lobel Tye LLP.