Hospital Financial Assistance Policies: Let's Be Clear

Published on:
15 August 2012 at 01:06 p.m. ET

Written by: Mike Bevel –

http://www.insidearm.com/news/00014508-hospital-financial-assistance-policies-le/

Bankruptcy law firm Patrick Burns & Associates uses the recent unpleasantness with Accretive Health to make some points about hospitals, the Affordable Care Act, and medical debt.

“The Accretive case is a vivid reminder of the problems posed by medical debt, which is a common cause of personal bankruptcy,” according to the release.

The biggest take-away for patient financial services professionals from this write-up is: Make sure you have financial aid policies in place. And more than just having them in place, it will be important to have them in an easy-to-read and easy-to-understand format. Many hospitals are required to actively distribute these policies to patients. Financial assistance policies that read like the fine print on a credit card statement are going to get a lot of media scrutiny and could damage your hospital’s reputation.

Mike Bevel is an Editor at insidePatientFinance and insideARM.com.