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AHA Confirmation of Commitment
The Goodland Regional Medical Center has signed the Confirmation of Commitment to the American Hospital Association's Principles and Guidelines on Hospital Billing and Collections Practices.
Statement of Principles and Guidelines by the Board of Trustees of the American Hospital Association
The mission of each and every hospital in America is to serve the health care needs of people in their communities 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Their task, and the task of their medical staffs, is to care and to cure. America's hospitals are united in providing care based on the following principles:
 Treat all patients equitably, with dignity, with respect, and with compassion.
Serve the emergency health care needs of everyone, regardless of a patient's ability to pay for care.
Assist patients who cannot pay for part or all of the care they receive.
Balance needed financial assistance for some patients with broader fiscal responsibilities in order to keep hospitals' doors open for all who may need care in a community.
Hospitals' work is made more difficult by America's fragmented health care system ... a system that leaves millions of people unable to afford the health care services they need ... a system in which federal and state governments and some private insurers do not meet their responsibilities to cover the costs of caring for Medicare, Medicaid or privately insured patients ... a system in which payments do not recognize the unreimbursed services provided by hospitals ... a system in which a complex web of regulations prevents hospitals from doing even more to make care affordable for their patients. Today's fragmented health care system does not serve Americans well in many ways. It is in need of significant change as each day leaves more and more hospitals unable to make ends meet.
While most Americans have insurance coverage for their unexpected health care needs, more than 43 million people do not. Some of these people can pay for the health care they may need, but America's hospitals treat millions of patients each year who can make only minimal payment, or no payment at all. In the absence of adequate insurance coverage for all, America's hospitals must find ways to both serve and survive.
Unfortunately, a vast and confusing array of federal laws, rules and regulations make it much more difficult than it should be for hospitals to respond to the concerns of patients of limited means who are unable to pay their hospital bills. Government must commit to removing these regulatory barriers to allow hospitals to do even more to make care affordable for patients who cannot pay for part or all of the care they receive.
The following guidelines outline how hospitals can better serve their patients. Hospitals have been following some of these guidelines for years as they work each day to find new ways to best meet their patients' needs.
Guidelines
Helping Patients with Payment for Hospital Care
Communicating effectively
Hospitals should provide financial counseling to patients about their hospital bills and should make the availability of such counseling widely known.
Hospitals should respond promptly to patients' questions about their bills and to requests for financial assistance.
Hospitals should use a billing process that is clear, concise, correct, and patient friendly.
Hospitals should make available for review by the public specific information in a meaningful format about what they charge for services.
Helping patients qualify for coverage
Hospitals should make available to the public information on hospital-based charity care policies and other known programs of financial assistance.
Hospitals should communicate this information to patients in a way that is easy to understand, culturally appropriate, and in the most prevalent languages used in their communities.
Hospitals should have understandable, written policies to help patients determine if they qualify for public assistance programs or hospital-based assistance programs.
Hospitals should share these policies with appropriate community health and human services agencies and other organizations that assist people in need.
Ensuring hospital policies are applied accurately and consistently
Hospitals should ensure that all written policies for assisting low-income patients are applied consistently.
Hospitals should ensure that staff members who work closely with patients (including those working in patient registration and admitting, financial assistance, customer service, billing and collections as well as nurses, social workers, hospital receptionists and others) are educated about hospital billing, financial assistance, and collection policies and practices.
Making care more affordable for patients with limited means
Hospitals should review all current charges and ensure that charges for services and procedures are reasonably related to both the cost of the service and to meeting all of the community's health care needs, including providing the necessary subsidies to maintain essential public services.
Hospitals should have policies to offer discounts to patients who do not qualify under a charity care policy for free or reduced cost care and who, after receiving financial counseling from the hospital, are determined to be eligible under the hospital's criteria for such discounts (pending needed federal regulatory clarification). Policies should clearly state the eligibility criteria, amount of discount, and payment plan options.
Ensuring fair billing and collection practices
Hospitals should ensure that patient accounts are pursued fairly and consistently, reflecting the public's high expectations of hospitals.
Hospitals should define the standards and scope of practices to be used by outside collection agencies acting on their behalf, and should obtain agreement to these standards in writing from such agencies.
Hospitals should implement written policies about when and under whose authority patient debt is advanced for collection.
Hospitals in some states may need to modify the use of these guidelines to comply with state laws and regulations.
Hospitals exist to serve. Their ability to serve well requires a relationship with their communities built on trust and compassion. These guidelines are intended to strengthen that relationship and to reassure patients, regardless of their ability to pay, of hospitals' commitment to caring.
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