The Hospital Accountability Project helps community-based organizations, consumer advocates and others working with vulnerable communities to analyze hospital and public policies on financial assistance (charity care), billing and debt collection, and community benefit.
Decades of hospital and health system consolidation across the United States have created large regional and national health systems with the market power to raise prices. This consolidation trend has also included the downsizing or closing of hundreds... [ Blog ]
Lois Uttley, senior advisor for Community Catalyst's Hospital Equity and Accountability Project, talks to Brookly Daily Eagle. [ News Clip ]
Here are three key ways health care advocates can help the health care system engage proactively on SDOH [ Blog ]
In the past week we have seen Republican leaders such as the President and Senate Majority Leader along with many House and Senate candidates take to the media to try to persuade the public that they will protect people with pre-existing conditions. [ Blog ]
Jessica Curtis, Senior Advisor, Center for Consumer Engagement in Health Innovation, is quoted in a POLITICO article about California's financially troubled Verity Health System, and its hospitals' failure to meet state-mandated charity care obligations. [ News Clip ]
Community Catalyst Deputy Director Sue Sherry talked to Marketplace about what happens when a hospital sells its debt – under consideration in Cook County, Illinois – cautioning that the practice is bad for consumers. [ News Clip ]
Jessica Curtis, a senior adviser with Community Catalyst, talks to the Post-Gazette about a recent development on charity care in Pennsylvania. [ News Clip ]
This blog is part of a series highlighting recent research illustrating various benefits of expanding Medicaid - from improving health and state budget savings to reducing rates of uninsurance and uncompensated care costs. [ Blog ]
Report recommends increased coordination and transparency and redirection of resources to address social and economic needs of communities. [ Press Release ]
Hospital Accountability Project Senior Advisor Jessica Curtis, and Program Director Phillip González weigh in on charity-care within Pennsylvania's hospital network. [ News Clip ]
The hospital landscape in this country is changing rapidly. Hospitals are consolidating, with mergers and acquisitions jumping from 66 in 2010 to 112 in 2015, an increased pace that is continuing in 2016. Regional and national health systems are ... [ Blog ]
Jessica Curtis of Community Catalyst's Hospital Accountability Project quoted in article about wave of medical debt collection lawsuits in St. Louis, after health system outsourced its emergency department operations. [ News Clip ]
Piedmont HealthCare System's mission is to Provide Excellent and Innovative Medical Care and Service.
Partners for a Healthier Community is working with the Center for Public Policy and Administration at the University of Massachusetts, the Center for Popular Economics and several local organizations, businesses and non-profits to create entry-level jobs in low-income neighborhoods to ultimately improve residents’ health.
Community Catalyst urges the Federal Trade Commission to consider impact of hospital consolidation on medical debt, access to care, and continuity of care. [ Comment Letter ]
This PowerPoint presentation was shared on a May 11, 2016 learning community call on the intersections of health and housing, featuring speakers from Community Catalyst, the National Housing Conference, and Children’s Health Watch/Boston Medical Center. [ Publication ]
This guest blog from the Greater Waterbury Health Improvement Partnership provides an overview of their collaborative approach to their Community Health Needs Assessment, using resources from the Centers for Disease Control’s CHI Navigator. [ Publication ]
This checklist highlights key legal requirements and policy considerations under the ACA for drafting or evaluating a hospital financial assistance policy (FAP) and can be used by hospital staff, advocates and others interested in FAPs. [ Resource ]
Community Catalyst’s comment letter to the IRS that supports revising the Form 990 Schedule H so that “community health improvement services” include efforts to address the social and economic determinants of health — including housing. [ Comment Letter ]
These resources will provide some initial guidance to advocates and community-based organizations as they navigate through the community benefit planning process that non-profit hospitals are required to undertake in exchange for their tax-exempt status. [ Publication ]
This fact sheet compares how “community benefit” is typically used in the economic development and healthcare contexts. [ Resource ]
Community Catalyst’s Free Care Compendium summarizes the free care laws and regulations in each of the fifty states. The Compendium also includes national snapshot of regulatory and legislative trends across the states. [ Resource ]
Tools for state and local health departments, hospital regulators, legislators, revenue collection and budgeting agencies, and hospitals, as these stakeholders work toward a more accessible, coordinated, and effective community health system. [ Resource ]
The CHNA toolkit is a free web-based platform to assist hospitals, non-profit organizations, state and local health departments, financial institutions, and other organizations seeking to better understand the needs and assets of their communities [ Resource ]
This outlines the provisions in the Affordable Care Act focused on non-profit hospitals, and how advocates can engage in making them effective. [ Resource ]
This commentary can serve as a baseline for policymakers and stakeholders as they develop legislation to establish standards and oversight procedures for hospital financial assistance programs. [ Resource ]
New Community Health Needs Assessment federal regulations require hospitals to address disparities in health care, a key issue Community Catalyst pushed for in comments throughout the rule-making process. The regulations also acknowledge the impact of medical debt on community health, a connection Community Catalyst emphasized in comments.
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