Financial Assistance Policy, Hospital Charity Care, and Medical Debt in Collections.

ABSTRACT:

Importance

Medical debt is a public health crisis. Hospital bills represent the majority of medical debt and present an opportunity for policy intervention. State financial assistance policies (FAPs) require hospitals to expand patient eligibility. However, it is unknown whether these policies alleviate medical debt.

Objective

To estimate the association of Oregon's FAP with medical debt in collections and hospitals' charity care (ie, free or discounted care for patients qualified for FAPs) and bad debt (ie, total amount of uncollectible patient accounts) expenditures.

Design, setting, and participants

This cohort study examined county- and hospital-level difference-in-differences and event study models covering the period from 2015 to 2022. This study included 689 co

SUBMITTER: Santos T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12848624 | biostudies-literature | 2026 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature