Reese, Judge.Autumn McKinney sued Mario Roman for injuries McKinney allegedly sustained from an automobile collision caused by Roman. Roman served WellStar Kennestone Hospital with a Notice of Deposition of Non-Party,[1] directing in part that WellStar designate an officer or employee to testify regarding the rates it charged seven categories of patients for the services it had provided to McKinney on the date of the collision. WellStar appeals from the denial of its motion to modify the subpoena to exclude any questioning regarding how much the hospital was willing to “write off” its bills.[2] For the reasons set forth, infra, we affirm. In the underlying complaint, McKinney alleged that, as the result of Roman’s negligence, she incurred medical expenses, including $15,919 with WellStar, where she was treated in the emergency room on the day of the collision. Roman sought to depose WellStar regarding its “rates or charges for those services . . . if provided to uninsured patients; to insured patients; to patients under workers compensation plans; to patients under Medicare or Medicaid plans; and to litigant and non-litigant patients[.]“WellStar filed a motion to modify on the grounds that such questioning was “not reasonably calculated to lead to the discovery of admissible evidence[.]“[3] Specifically, WellStar argued that the money a hospital wrote off a patient’s bill was a collateral source and was therefore inadmissible to mitigate a tortfeasor’s damages. Roman responded that he sought this information to support his contention that $15,919 was not a reasonable charge for the services rendered. Roman believed that the amount WellStar “charged” to McKinney, whom Roman believed did not have health insurance at the time of the collision, exceeded what WellStar typically expected to be paid for the same services by insured individuals by approximately $13,125.The trial court found that the evidence sought by Roman was not barred by the collateral source rule:[The] collateral source rule bars defendants from presenting evidence that the claimant has received payment from a third party. Thus, [Roman] would be precluded from introducing evidence of WellStar’s write-off of Plaintiff’s medical treatment.[4] However, the Court finds no authority in Georgia law to support Non-Party WellStar’s contention that the collateral source rule bars the discovery of the medical rates and charges of third parties that are not involved in this case.[5]
