By Holly Lang
August 9, 2010

When you think about health care, the US Internal Revenue Service might not spring to mind. But the IRS took an important step last month that could make health care more affordable for millions of Americans, including many right here in Georgia. The agency began a process, established by the Affordable Care Act, to improve protections for consumers who get care at nonprofit hospitals throughout the country, including the more than 120 here in Georgia. Whether they follow through depends on us and Georgia’s congressional leaders. Read More

Atlanta, Ga. – Many metro Atlanta hospitals aren’t doing enough to improve health care accessibility for the low-income and uninsured, according to a report released this week by Georgia Watch. In addition, only half of the 34 hospitals in the 21-county Atlanta area fail to post legally-required signage about available financial aid programs. Read More

(Atlanta, Ga. and Boston, Ma.) Many non-profit hospitals are not doing enough to let needy patients know about whether they qualify for hospital charity care programs and how to apply for assistance, according to a report released today by The Access Project and Community Catalyst in collaboration with Georgia Watch. Read more

[This originally appeared in Healthy Debate Georgia, the blog of consumer advocacy group Georgians for a Healthy Future.]

by Holly Lang

In a March ruling that could hold implications for all nonprofit hospitals, the Illinois Supreme Court stripped not-for-profit Provena Covenant Medical Center of its exemption from property tax, stating that the hospital did not provide enough charity care to justify that exemption.

A hospital earns its tax-exempt status through the benefits it provides to the community, the most of which being the free or reduced-cost care for those eligible for such assistance. Such care is deemed indigent or charity care. Read more

Georgia Watch will expand its Hospital Accountability Project to help broaden accessibility to affordable, quality health care for uninsured, underinsured and low-income Georgians by addressing socioeconomic obstacles, hospital policies, community benefits and regulations throughout the state. Read more

March 10, 2010 – Georgia Watch released a detailed financial analysis of Northeast Georgia Medical Center, a regional safety net hospital that serve low-income, uninsured, underinsured and other vulnerable populations in Gainesville and its surrounding region. This section of the state, serviced primarily by Northeast Georgia Medical Center, has an uninsured rate that is higher than the state average; many area health consumers face significant barriers in affording care. Read more

Heather Duncan
The Macon Telegraph

The Medical Center of Central Georgia is cutting hours, clinics and pharmacy offerings at its W.T. Anderson Health Center, which provides primary and specialty care to the poor…more.

Georgia Watch released a report detailing the plight of the uninsured and underinsured when seeking affordable health care in the state. Titled The Cost of Care in Georgia, the report examines overcharging of uninsured patients at nonprofit hospitals, along with the economic repercussions of medical debt and how it directly causes foreclosure and financial ruin. In terms of potential solutions to the issue of affordability, the report evaluates programs across the state that treat the uninsured for less… Read the rest of this entry »

Health care is one market where consumers are perpetually at a disadvantage and are consistently denied the fundamental options and choices that are available in other consumer-driven industries.

While there are many different causes for this lack of consumer control, one major factor is the absence of straightforward and clear information. For health care consumers, details on the most basic information – such as pricing and financial assistance eligibility – are scarce.

The majority of hospitals in the state are tax-exempt organizations, and are obligated to their communities to provide some level of financial assistance, either through their participation in Medicaid and/or their offering of financial assistance to needy patients. The latter is generally referred to as “community benefits” and include charity and indigent care.

In return, these facilities are typically subsidized by state and local governments. For example, tax-exempt nonprofit hospitals do not pay most taxes, including sales, income and property. Because of this, tax-exempt nonprofit hospitals do not contribute to vital local infrastructure, such as road and sewer maintenance, or firefighter and police forces, even though they utilize these services.

But, some hospitals participate in practices that are questionable in regards to proper stewardship of our foregone tax dollars, such as maintaining large reserves of cash and paying its executives wages that are similar to that of Fortune 500 companies while charging self-pay/uninsured patients significantly inflated charges that often puts care out of reach.

For example, many tax-exempt nonprofit hospitals in Georgia charge uninsured patients a significantly higher cost for services than average payments received from most third party payers, such as private insurance, Medicare and Medicaid. While most hospitals offer financial assistance, some do not alert patients to the availability of this assistance. In addition, many hospitals employ aggressive collection tactics when a patient bill.

All hospitals are unique – some are leaders in community betterment while others are underperformers in regards to financial programs for indigent and nearly poor patients. As a consumer advocacy group, we feel it is our role to examine the financial practices of hospitals, especially facilities who act as a ‘safety net’ in their communities, in order to provide clear and transparent information for our state’s healthcare consumers.

Because of this, in 2007, Georgia Watch began authoring an ongoing series of reports that examine the finances and community offerings of hospitals in the state. The research and analysis is based on figures reported by the hospital to the IRS, the US Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services, and other publicly available sources.

Hospitals are already examined are:

• Memorial University Medical Center (Savannah)
• Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital (Albany)
• Northside Hospital (Atlanta)
• Medical Center of Central Georgia(Macon)
• Floyd Medical Center (Rome)
• Northeast Georgia Medical Center (Gainesville)

The Hospital Accountability Project aims to broaden accessibility to affordable, quality health care for uninsured, underinsured and low-income Georgians by addressing socioeconomic obstacles, hospital policies, community benefits and regulations throughout the state. Through research and analysis, the publication of relevant reports, the engagement of the state’s hospitals and education and empowerment of the state’s consumers, Georgia Watch aims to increase access to appropriate, quality health care by enacting state-level regulations, advocating hospital policy changes and promoting consumer empowerment. The organization will also actively engage key state-level stakeholders, hospital representatives, community leaders and lawmakers in dialogue on these topics.

The statewide Hospital Accountability Project is funded in part by a grant from Healthcare Georgia Foundation. Created in 1999 as an independent, private foundation, the Foundation’s mission is to advance the health of all Georgians and to expand access to affordable, quality healthcare for underserved individuals and communities.

Highlighting and combating the challenges of low-income, uninsured and underinsured Georgians has long been a top priority of Georgia Watch. Since 2007, Georgia Watch has evaluated issues of access and affordability throughout the state, and has conducted detailed analyses of fiscal practices and community benefit offerings of six of the state’s key safety net facilities. In 2009, the organization received a two-year grant to focus specifically on the metropolitan Atlanta area, examining the particular barriers to affordable care uninsured, underinsured and low-income consumers face. Through research, partnerships with community organizations, and hospital and consumer engagement, Georgia Watch has analyzed these barriers, and will release their findings in a report in spring 2010.

National not-for-profit advocacy organization Community Catalyst funds the Metropolitan Atlanta-specific Hospital Accountability Project, and financially supports similar projects in 14 other states. Funding for these projects comes as a result of cy pres monies awarded from a suit filed in 2002 against Tenet Healthcare on behalf of uninsured and underinsured patients who were charged excessive prices at approximately 114 Tenet-owned facilities nationwide.