Many practices want to send a patient a Form 1099 when they write off their account as a bad debt; they do this as a way to get the patient to pay something. However, you cannot do this.
IRS Form 1099-C cannot be used unless you are a lending institution per their rules, not anyone’s opinion. As you can guess, a practice could be in a bind from sending a person a 1099 when they aren’t legally allowed to per IRS regs. Also remember this: if you send someone an incorrect or fictitious 1099-Misc, you could get in a load of trouble.