Today, U.S. Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) released the following statement after Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson announced that the state has come to a settlement with Accretive Health Inc., the Chicago-based company accused of harassing emergency room patients for payment and losing the private health information of thousands of Minnesota patients.

"Accretive has been accused of harassing patients in the emergency room and mishandling their private medical data, and that should never happen," said Sen. Franken. "I'd like to thank Attorney General Swanson for her diligent work to protect Minnesotans. In May, I held a Senate hearing in Minnesota to investigate the allegations against Accretive, and it was clear that our laws don't go far enough to protect consumers from serious breaches of trust. So I'm going to continue to fight for federal laws that will protect Minnesotans going forward."

In May, Sen. Franken held a Senate field hearing to investigate the allegations raised by Attorney General Swanson, where he questioned representatives from Accretive and Fairview Health Services. Following the hearing, he introduced two pieces of legislation to protect patients and consumers from unscrupulous debt collection tactics and inadequate privacy protections.