FINANCIAL INFORMATION

For more information contact WCHC Business Office at 620-375-2233.

Financial Assistance

FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE/CHARITY CARE: The Health Center will strive for a fair and comprehensive system of distributing charity care to the poor and financially burdened, giving recognition to their limited financial resources.

Financial Assistance Guidelines:

The Health Center will base the amount of the assistance on the demographics of the patient population serviced and the Health Center's financial ability to provide the assistance. Criteria will be evaluated on an annual basis to determining the appropriate level of assistance available.

The Health Center will consider the responsible party's income and family size in determining eligibility. In addition to the hospital's standard financial assistance evaluation process, the hospital will take into consideration various financial factors, including all outstanding medical bills of the patient at the Health Center. The Health Center will also evaluate the responsible party's prior hospital accounts to determine if financial assistance was previously authorized, and if so, attempt to utilize the financial information previously provided by the responsible party if such information remains relevant to the evaluation. The Health Center will also assess the responsible party's financial situation utilizing the information the responsible party can reasonably provide.

Application

All qualifying applicants will be granted health care services free of charge or at discounted rate, for each inpatient stay or outpatient service applied for, in accordance with the qualifications and guidelines herein set forth.

Applications for charity care should be completed when it is evident that a person will have a substantial personal payment responsibility, and does not have the resources to make such payment, and/or the outstanding account is due to be turned to collection.

The application process can take place at the time of service (during admission or during discharge planning) or at a later date when it becomes evident that a patient is having difficulty making payment. All application materials must be completed and returned to the hospital business office within two weeks of receipt.

The application process includes completion of a personal financial statement and providing verification documents. If verifiable information is not collected or available, then other documentation must be used to assist in determining eligibility. Such other information may include, but is not limited to, the following:

Individual or family net worth
Employment status
Earnings capacity
Family size
Other financial obligations
Previous experiences
Previous or current returns from collection agencies with documentation regarding inability to pay

Eligibility

It is desirable to determine the amount of charity care, for which a patient is eligible, as close to the time of service as possible; however, there is no rigid limit on the time when determination is made. In some cases, eligibility is readily apparent; in others, it may take investigation to determine eligibility, particularly when a patient has limited ability or willingness to provide needed information.

Eligibility of each applicant will be made based on received and reviewed documentation. If applicable, the Health Center will assist the responsible party to initiate enrollment in a publicly or privately sponsored program (e.g., Medicaid, Health Wave, MediKan, private grants or SCHIP) when the responsible party provides all of the necessary financial and other information.

The amount of charity care write-off will be based on the charity care sliding fee schedule using the most recent Federal Poverty Level guidelines available and the applicant's current net worth.

The sliding fee schedule will identify the maximum available charity care, based on the patient's total medical indebtedness.

You may also quality for sliding fee scale even if you have insurance.

The Health Center will need to make a judgment on the actual charity care granted based on the applicant's net worth and/or liquid assets. Please contact Amanda Baker Chief financial officer for details and to determine if you qualify. 620-375-2233