SECTION 70A. Hospital lien; creation; priority; application

Any person and any city or town maintaining a hospital licensed under the provisions of section fifty-one, any hospital located in the commonwealth and operated by the United States Veterans Administration, any hospital operated by the commonwealth which furnished medical or other services to any person injured in an accident not covered by chapter 152 shall, subject to the provisions of section seventy B, have a lien for the reasonable and necessary charges of such hospital, not exceeding, however, the amount which would be charged in a ward of such hospital, and any health maintenance organization which has furnished health services, and any hospital, medical, or dental service corporation which has provided benefits for covered services furnished to a person injured in such an accident shall, subject to the provisions of section seventy B, have a lien for such benefits, upon the net amount payable to such injured person, his heirs or legal representative out of the total amount of any recovery or sum had or collected or to be collected, whether by judgment or by settlement or compromise, from another person as damages on account of such injuries. The lien of any attorney shall have precedence over the lien created under this section. The provisions of this section shall not apply to any such charges incurred subsequent to any such judgment, settlement or compromise.