Many of the companies say that this trend could indicate that many people without health insurance are delaying treatment or that Medicaid and COBRA are paying the bills of some patients who would otherwise be uninsured, according to the report.
Some companies said that the decline in their rates were due to helping patients receive access to programs like Medicaid or increases in upfront payments before procedures.
However, the report said that many hospitals are still seeing a rise in uncompensated care. HCA, for example, reported that their rate of uncompensated care rose 13 percent to $1.9 billion for the recent quarter, according to the report.
Trends could change with the state of the economy, and recent declines do not mean that this drop will continue. According to the report, in a nationwide study by the American Hospital Association, six of 10 hospitals reported that they are seeing more uninsured patients in their emergency departments.
Read The Tennessean’s report on the declining rate of uninsured hospital patients.
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