Dollar value of uncompensated care provided by U.S. hospitals in 2012, expressed in terms of actual costs, according to data from the American Hospital Association’s Annual Survey of Hospitals.6 This figure represents 6.1% of total costs, an increase of 11.7% from 2011. The total includes both bad debt and charity care provided to patients unable to pay for their care, AHA says, but does not include underpayments by Medicare and Medicaid.
Larry Beresford is a freelance writer in Alameda, Calif.
References
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- American Hospital Association: Uncompensated hospital care cost fact sheet. January 2014. Available at: http://www.aha.org/content/14/14uncompensatedcare.pdf. Accessed June 5, 2014.