Case Study: What Happens When Patients Cannot Pay?
The case focuses on the charity program of Sunrise Hospital. The hospital recognizes charity healthcare in the form of bad debts and other services that are offered for free. The process has been faced with some issues, and these issues have halted the organization role of delivering charitable care to low-income people. However, this paper is going to analyze the case.
What issues are raised in this case for Lawler to address?
There are several issues that Lawler as the CEO must address in the above case. At first, Lawler is expected to address the issue of Jeremy Spring, a patient who had just been brought to the emergency department. His case is complicated because he is found to be above the federal poverty level, which is mainly used as the basis for granting charity care at sunrise. However, it is also eminent that despite his level, he cannot foot his medical bills and from the medical services that he had received, he could end up in a financial burden. Despite all this, Spring had no home where he could be referred to for medical care despite his health. This became a serious issue that called for Lawler attention as the CEO. The issue of the hospital charity care policy was also another issue that called for Lawler attention.
What are the options for Sunrise with respect to treating patients who cannot pay for care?
The hospital had two options for treating patients who could not pay. At first, the hospital
patients. Because they were paid by the state, the doctors were able to treat both the
The healthcare system has come under heavy criticism from experts from all over the world. According to Schroder, 44% of the population has no access to the healthcare system. (Schroder, 2003) There are many clinics which charge are free of cost or are charging lesser fees, but all of these are burdened and do not have the capability to meet the requirements. There are certain ethnic communities that are by enlarge poor who are of the opinion that they have been deliberately been left out of the healthcare system. These have led to the
The public service agencies are organizations that con either be governmental or non-governmental. The agencies are significant in due to the interest they have for the state's citizens. Organizations such as the Agency of International development (USAID), Agency of Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and the famous American Red Cross, all have different missions, but the agenda of all these organization is to provide service to the citizens. The organizations provide many job opportunities to the citizens, especially positions in the civil service. The agencies are obligated to support people with basic needs including water in case of droughts, electricity to the marginalized. In addition, the organizations provide services like transportation and also aids in communication in case of emerging tragedies, which are inevitable. Special programs are available to assist in the implementation of policies in the agencies, and a critical analysis on the issue of programs is provided in this work. A detailed proposal on public policy is also provided at the end of this paper.
According to the American Hospital Association the cost of equipment, services, and information services has risen drastically. A huge problem for hospitals now is that there has been an enormous increase in patients who have Medicare or Medicaid. The Hospital Association states that “60% of all admissions. Neither program fully reimburses the cost of hospital care.” Not only is the hospital not getting paid the full amount through the health insurance, but they have also seen a jump in people who do not have insurance and cannot pay for their hospital expenses this averages out to about six percent of hospital expenses. Hospitals must assume these costs as a part of their charity pay. These costs are then calculated and increase the costs of health care for people who pay for it, in order to cover these costs.
In my opinion I think that Sutter Health is on the right path. I think that they should implement a plan for how to process charity care and bad credit cases since they are a not-for profit organization. A person with bad credit is unwilling to pay, whereas a person needing charity care is unable to pay. I think this would be important for the admitting clerk to know how to properly handle a situation like this (Unknown, 2006). Also I think that it is important to discuss all financial matters with patients. Ensure to explain the cost of the treatment, what part of insurance will cover their responsibility and payment options. They also need to go into detail
The debate over non-profit versus for-profit healthcare organization has been ongoing, does one provide better care than the other? Do the operations of for profit perform better than the non-profit organizations? Are the criticisms about for-profit organization validated and is there proof? The goal is to examine those questions as well as offer options to improve the financial and operational performance of non-profit and for-profit organizations criticisms.
Next, we studied the financial structures of health care organizations. Specifically, we examined the structure of nonprofit healthcare organizations. I remember spending a good amount of time debating whether or not nonprofits should maintain their tax exempt status. As someone who had spent their entire professional career working for a nonprofit organization, I often viewed myself as the sole champion for these organizations. In sessions and on the discussion boards, I advocated that nonprofit healthcare organizations in most situation function as a safe net of the community and that the level of community benefits these organizations provide do justify the lost revenue for state and federal agencies.
Another example of unethical preferential treatment occurs when a person who is a donor to the hospital and receives access to care and amenities that are not accessible to the general population. At our facility, high dollar donors become members of the Sister Theodore Marie Society, an association titled after one of the founding sisters of our organization. Members of the Sister Theodore Marie Society are to be located
patient is no longer able to attend a hospital that meets their needs, the lives of the individual’s
There is a recent trend among charitable clinics to move from a free service model to one that is fee-based. Organizations are motivated to make this kind of transition because of the extra revenue that fees bring in, beliefs about the ways that a person behaves when they pay for a treatment, and the social stigma associated with no-cost services. There are several factors that an organization like the Georgia Lions Lighthouse Foundation (GLLF) should consider when contemplating transitioning away from a free clinic. This memo serves as a guideline for how the GLLF should analyze what this transition would change within the organization.
There is a recent trend among charitable clinics to move from a free service model to one that is fee-based. Organizations are motivated to make this kind of transition because of the extra revenue that fees bring in, beliefs about the ways that a person behaves when they pay for a treatment, and the social stigma associated with no-cost services. There are several factors that an organization like the Georgia Lions Lighthouse Foundation (GLLF) should consider when contemplating transitioning away from a free clinic. This memo serves as a guideline for how the GLLF should analyze what this transition would change within the organization.
Stephanie is a personable candidate with a solid background in medical billing. She has extensive experience working in billing, as well as both insurance and patient follow up. She has worked with Medicare, Medicaid, and commercial insurance. Most of her applicable experience comes from her time with Coram Healthcare. She left this position when they relocated out of state. She is currently working in a contract role outside of the medical billing industry. It is set to complete in the next week or two and she would prefer to return to a stable environment in the area of medical billing.
On my previous email on 9/24/2015 I respond you that you need to add the patient on the refund patient spreadsheet that PMG always FWD to us. I just review the last list that WFH receive from PMG and the patient is not on the list. Probably that is the reason why the patient don't receive yet the refund.I will prepare the paper work now and FWD to our accounting department for process the refund to the patient. Also we only send the refund to the patient on paper check only.
Discuss the ways in which Lanesha, Grandma Marietta and Hannah Healthcare approach this situation from totally different perspectives.
With the creation of new religion healthcare services and privately insured companies; Medi-Share (Samaritan ministries) has become a charity that helps those non-insured by setting a set “share” amount each month by member who will help those in “needs”. It provides a service “share-account” to each house hold member with a monthly report of who is in need. It provides information of a care treatment of his choice; not forgetting to have to meet the criteria each ministry provides. Each household commits to send a set “share” each month. This “shares” are sent through mail household to household in need with the respective amount they agree to pay monthly.