HCPro survey reveals providers' top charity-care processing concerns
Patient Financial Services Weekly Advisor, January 7, 2005
A recent HCPro survey to healthcare finance professionals found that bad debt write-offs continue to exceed charity write-offs as a percentage of net revenue: 30% of respondents said their facilities had bad debt write-offs of 1%-2% of net revenue; 28% had bad debt write offs of 3.1%-4% of net revenue; and 23% said 2.1%-3%.
When asked about charity write-offs as a percentage of net revenue, 44% of respondents indicated 1.2%; 22% indicated 2.1%-3%; and 18% indicated 3.1%-4%.
The survey also found that the top three challenges that impede charity-care processing pertained to patient applications:
When asked about updates to their charity policies, 67% of respondents said they have revised their institutions' charity care policies within the past six months. Further, 70% of respondents said they've seen an increase in the charity dollars approved in their facilities.
In related news, CMS issued much-anticipated additional guidance confirming that hospitals can offer discounts to any uninsured patients without putting the hospital's Medicare payments at risk.
The agency issued its first set of guidance in February 2003, but it created a lot of confusion regarding if setting discounts would derail Medicare payments.
To read the new guidance, click here.
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