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.
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 ]
The Attorney General’s Office released new guidelines, demonstrating the Commonwealth’s commitment to tackling social determinants of health and leading in health system transformation. [ Press Release ]
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 ]
A recent Health Affairs study on hospital profitability has been garnering national press attention for finding that seven of the “Top 10” most profitable hospitals were non-profits. These findings will likely reverberate in states where po... [ Blog ]
At Community Catalyst we are often asked for lessons or insights into the Community Health Needs Assessments that non-profit hospitals have been generating. We are in regular communication with several groups around the country who are monitoring CHNAs. [ Blog ]
2015 is shaping up to be a pivotal year for non-profit hospital community benefit. The Hospital Accountability Project team has been closely tracking developments in the non-profit hospital sector and in communities across the nation. [ Blog ]
You can almost set your clock by it: at least once a year, a major piece of investigative journalism documents the struggles of uninsured and underinsured people who carry heavy medical debt and are facing collection actions from hospitals. [ Blog ]
Project Director, Jessica Curtis, explains how the new rules nonprofit hospitals are now required to operate under is a win for low-income consumers. [ News Clip ]
Piedmont HealthCare System's mission is to Provide Excellent and Innovative Medical Care and Service.
This paper seeks to inform state and local efforts to strengthen the connection between hospital community benefit programs and health equity investments in Connecticut. [ Publication ]
Tax exempt non-profit hospitals around the country spend billions of dollars each year as part of their community benefit obligations. But do those investments really move the needle in improving community health? [ Publication ]
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 ]
A learning community for hospital-based practitioners who are charged with community benefit planning, implementation, reporting and evaluation. [ Resource ]
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 ]
This publication outlines the key elements of the final regulations related to patient billing—financial assistance, charges, billing and collections. It provides brief contextual insight into the policy issues the regulations seek to address. [ Publication ]
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 ]
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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