Charity Care and Financial Assistance

In some cases, a patient does not want to dispute a medical bill. This may be because the patient does not consider the medical bill to be unfair, or there is not a solid reason to dispute the bill.  Not disputing a medical bill does not mean that a patient cannot get their medical bill reduced or eliminated.


Differences between Charity Care and Financial Assistance

Almost all hospitals, and many physician practices and other types of providers, have charity and financial assistance programs to reduce the financial burden for some patients.  It is important to note that some providers make a distinction between “charity care” and “financial assistance,” so do not use the terms interchangeably.


Charity care means free or discounted health services provided to persons who meet the provider’s eligibility criteria and are unable to pay for all or a portion of the services.  Charity care is a core mission of most nonprofit hospitals, particularly those affiliated with religious institutions.

The Internal Revenue Service requires nonprofit hospitals to:

 

  • Have a policy that tells who qualifies and how to apply
  • Post the policy information on their website, signs in the hospital, and bills
  • Give patients at least 240 days (about 8 months) to apply after they get a bill
  • Give patients a chance to fix incomplete applications
  • Pause sending a bill to collections while they are reviewing the financial assistance application
  • Send the patient a letter with the final decision and reason

 

Many states require hospitals to offer reduced or free services to qualifying patients, usually based on income and insurance status. 

 

Financial assistance can be synonymous with charity care, but it often can mean something very different. Some hospitals and providers use the term financial assistance to mean any program that makes it easier for a patient to pay for services. In this use, financial assistance can mean help to pay a medical bill through a payment plan, a loan with interest charged, or even encouragement to apply for a credit card. A provider may offer financial assistance based on a patient’s inability to pay the bill, or make it available without it contingent on inability to pay the bill.

 

 

Seeking Charity Care

One should seek charity care specifically, and not financial assistance, if there is an inability to pay a bill, or other financial hardship. If a provider distinguishes between charity care and financial assistance, charity care almost always will mean a lower cost to the patient than would financial assistance.

 

Patient Fairness discourages a patient to request charity care if he or she is actively disputing the medical bill for the care, unless the patient would be satisfied to pay a discounted charity care amount on the bill without continuing the dispute.  A dispute usually means that patient is contesting that he or she owes the medical bill, in part or in full, due to an error or other failure or fault on the part of the provider. A request for charity care does not challenge the medical bill, but asks the provider to extend the provider’s own charity policy to the medical bill. 

 

 

Dollar For

Dollar For is a nonprofit organization that helps patient access charity care.  Dollar For is not affiliated with Patient Fairness. Because providers do not always make it simple for patients to access charity care, they often can use help. Dollar For educates patients about charity programs, and helps patients navigate the application process.

 

You may access Dollar For and its services by clicking the via image below.