Hospital Charity Care

Mission

State regulations codify the long-standing tradition of non-profit hospitals providing free or discounted care to the uninsured poor. This unit educates health care providers and patients, reviews hospital compliance with regulations, and identifies opportunities for improvement in order to maximize utility of this invaluable community resource.

2010 Accomplishments and Milestones

• Investigated over two dozen complaints about the provision of charity care and the application process.
• Provided educational programs to several hundred community workers on the system of Charity Care.
• Joined with the Department of Behavioral Health, Developmental Disabilities and Health to create a task force to address prolonged waiting times for inpatient psychiatry beds for the uninsured.