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This issue brief examines the role that hospital charity care programs play in helping patients who are unable to afford their care. It describes how hospital charity care programs work, the amount of charity care that hospitals provide, relevant federal and state regulation, the role of Medicare and Medicaid in helping hospitals afford charity care expenses, and policy proposals related to charity care programs.
Half of hospitals reported that the cost of providing charity care to patients represented 1.4% or less of their operating expenses in 2020, though the rates vary widely from hospital to hospital, a new KFF analysis finds.
When the federal government ends COVID-19 emergency declarations that were declared in the early days of the pandemic, it will bring to a close several changes that were enacted temporarily to enable the U.S. health care system to better deal with the crisis.
A new federal law provides new consumer protections against "surprise" medical bills beginning this year. Test your knowledge about its provisions with this 12-question quiz.
Telehealth use skyrocketed during the early months of the pandemic. While it has since decreased somewhat from that high, it still represents a much more substantial share of health care than before COVID, this KFF-Epic Research analysis finds.
Telehealth use skyrocketed during the early months of the pandemic. While it has since decreased somewhat from that high, it still represents a much more substantial share of health care than before COVID, a new KFF-Epic Research analysis finds.
Health plan networks affect patient access to care. This brief reviews options for setting and enforcing network adequacy standards and tools for making differences in plan networks more transparent.
In this column for the JAMA Health Forum, Larry Levitt examines how the No Surprises Act that prohibits unexpected out-of-network charges for patients could lead to lower payment rates and revenues for some doctors and other care providers.
Patients with certain conditions appear to be at higher risk for receiving surprise bills. They should be aware of new federal protections against surprise bills and know how to seek out help if they have improperly received one.
In this new video, KFF Senior Fellow Karen Pollitz explains why surprise bills have been such a major problem for patients, the new federal ban on the practice, and how patients can get help if they received a surprise bill.
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