Every nonprofit hospital in Texas has to offer free or discounted care to patients who cannot afford their bills. Whether those patients ever find out about it is another matter, according to an investigation published Tuesday by Public Health Watch, a nonprofit newsroom based in Lakeway.
Charity care, also called financial assistance, is a condition of the tax exemption nonprofit hospitals receive under state and federal law. Hospitals are also required to tell patients the help exists. The usual methods, the report says, are signs in emergency rooms, a policy posted online, a notice with billing paperwork and a yearly newspaper notice.
Advocates told the outlet that is not enough. Jared Walker, who founded the national nonprofit Dollar For, said his group has filed more than 8,000 charity care applications for Texans, 14% of its total nationwide and far more than second-place Florida, at about 5,200.
"The poster in the ER doesn't work," he said, adding that most of the people his group helps leave the hospital unaware the program exists.
A survey of 800 Texans last year by the Texas Public Policy Foundation found fewer than half had heard of hospital charity care, the report says.
The industry's view
The Texas Hospital Association declined an interview, but has said in public statements that every nonprofit hospital in the state meets the legal standards for offering financial assistance and telling patients about it.
Houston Methodist, whose patient is featured in the story, said in a statement that it promotes its program with emergency room signs, its website and notices on billing statements, and that staff will help patients apply.
