I am grateful that I had the opportunity to work on a paper titled, Charity Care Characteristics and Expenditures Among US Tax-Exempt Hospitals in 2016, with esteemed colleagues: Christopher Goodman MD (lead author), Janice Probst PhD and Allen Brett, MD. The paper was accepted for publication in the American Journal of Public Health (AJPH). The online version was published today!

The paper's objectives are as follows: examine content of financial assistance polices (FAPs) among US tax-exempt hospitals and determine whether restrictive policies were associated with reduced charity care spending.

This topic is important to me because I work with patients that are beneficiaries of FAPs everyday. Patients that are uninsured may be eligible to participate financial assistance plans that provide access to free or reduced cost healthcare services. These services may include emergent care, primary care or specialty care to name a few. If you are in need of healthcare services but don't have insurance, ask your local health care system about their financial assistance policy.

I am thankful that these policies exist and I am hopeful that hospital systems will adopt FAPs that increase access to quality healthcare services.

The image below include a figure from our paper. It is being used by the AJPH to promote the publication.

To view the publication, follow the link below:

https://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/10.2105/AJPH.2019.305522

Check it out and share your thoughts below!