Ohio Health System's Discussion on Bad Debt Underscores National Problem
A recent discussion about unpaid and under-compensated care at Georgetown, Ohio-based Brown County Regional Healthcare's board meeting echoed complaints from hospitals across the country, as patients find it more difficult to pay hospital bills, according to a News Democrat report.
BCRH CFO Teresa Daniel said the system loses around $1 million to bad debt. Bad debt is different from charity or indigent care, which means a patient meets predetermined financial criteria demonstrating they cannot pay for needed treatment. Patients with bad debt have demonstrated an ability to pay but ultimately do not.
Hospitals have combated the possibility of bad debt by increasing their focus on point-of-service collections. Experts say that front-end collections can reduce the likelihood that patients will under pay.
Read the News Democrat report on Brown County Regional Healthcare.
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