Hospital Charity Care Policies Are Ineffective, Survey Finds

Many not-for-profit hospitals and health systems are not adequately informing patients about their eligibility for charity care, according to a survey conducted by Access Project and Community Catalyst. In 2003, the American Hospital Association established voluntary guidelines regarding billing and collections procedures for charity and discounted care that encouraged hospitals to disseminate information to patients about charity care and make "good-faith" efforts to contact patients before billing collection agencies.

• "Not-for-Profits Seen Lax on Sharing Charity Rules" (Carlson, Modern Healthcare, 5/5).
• "Hospitals' Charity Care Knocked" (Hoholik, Columbus Dispatch, 5/6).