NJ law caps hospital prices for uninsured

Anne Zieger — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 11:09:03 -0400

Following a trend emerging in recent years across the country, New Jersey has enacted a law capping hospital prices for low- and middle-income uninsured patients. The new law is one of four bills signed by the state's governor, including a measure expanding the state's power of oversight over troubled hospitals. Under the new pricing law, hospitals aren't allowed to charge more than 15 percent above Medicare's rate for services to uninsured patients with incomes below 500 percent of the federal poverty level. (The poverty level is presently $21,200 for a family of four.) The monitoring law, meanwhile, allows the state's health commissioner to appoint an official for hospitals at risk of foreclosure, as measured by the guidelines for intervention created by the New Jersey Commission on Rationalizing Health Care Resources.

To find out more about these measures:
- read this Modern Healthcare article (reg. req.)

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Case study: WY hospital expands charity care

Anne Zieger — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 01:24:53 -0400

A Wyoming hospital has expanded its charity care policy to allow more patients to qualify for free care, one of many not-for-profits taking steps to make sure they will make the right impression when they fill out their Form 990 Schedule H. Right now, Wyoming Medical Center incurs about $30 million annually in uncompensated care expenses, 80 percent of which comes from bad debt and 20 percent of which pays for charity care. Elsewhere, it's more common for there to be a 50/50 split, according to hospital CEO Nancy Brandt. To address this inequity, the hospital will now use a sliding scale when it comes to charity care, and allow patients at 200 percent or less of the federal poverty level to apply for free care. It will also let patients with income of up to 275 percent of the federal poverty level to apply for some form of subsidized care. To help facilitate the application process, the hospital is switching out its five-page application for a much simpler one-page application that is estimated to take five minutes to complete. While the previous form asked questions about patient circumstances, the new form will ask questions only related to income verification.

To learn more about the hospital's program:
- read this InsideARM article

Related Articles:
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Federal Poverty Level

NJ law caps hospital prices for uninsured

Case study: WY hospital expands charity care