Assuntos
Financiamento de Capital , Administração Financeira de Hospitais , Planejamento Hospitalar , Gastos de Capital , Tomada de Decisões Gerenciais , Financiamento de Construções , Arquitetura Hospitalar , Investimentos em Saúde , Objetivos Organizacionais , Técnicas de Planejamento , Estados UnidosRESUMO
Patients without effective coverage frequently must pay charges for medical services that are higher than the hospital's contracted rates. A national survey of hospitals shows great variation in how charges are set and accommodations made for patients with low income. The government is taking a more active role in examining charging practices. Hospitals can take several steps to help stave off government intervention.
Assuntos
Administração Financeira de Hospitais/métodos , Financiamento Pessoal/normas , Preços Hospitalares/normas , Crédito e Cobrança de Pacientes , Alocação de Custos , Seguro de Hospitalização , Estados UnidosRESUMO
A lack of standards in healthcare organizations often makes it difficult to consistently define and report charity care. Accurately documenting services provided to patients who are unwilling or unable to pay can be difficult for many organizations. Temple East, Inc., Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, established several policies in an attempt to clarify its charity-care provisions. Among the organization's guiding principles were that all unreimbursed costs of caring for patients who are either uninsured or enrolled in a Medicaid program and all bad debt directly attributable to services to low-income or uninsured patients should be included as charity care. The organization also determined that contractual allowances and disallowances for payers other than government payers should not be included as charity care. Determining clear, unambiguous definitions for several terms related to charity care also helped the organization better track and document its charity-care services--a task that will become increasingly important for hospitals in the future.