Tech nonprofit Dollar For has gotten 40-plus hospitals to make their charity care policies more patient-friendly, Fast Company reported May 24.
Founder Jared Walker started the nonprofit in 2015 to raise funds to pay people's medical bills before learning about charity care, according to the story. His 2021 explanation of hospital financial assistance on TikTok garnered more than 10 million views.
Fast Forward, a startup accelerator for nonprofit tech companies, has supported Dollar For to become more automated, the news outlet reported. The nonprofit now has a tool to automatically fill in and fax charity care forms to hospitals.
Dollar For has helped clear more than $25 million in healthcare debt and advised dozens of hospitals about clarifying their policies, according to the story. For instance, the company talked to an East Coast hospital whose financial assistance department didn't believe their charity care covered childbirth; the hospital ended up retraining its staff and identifying previous patients who qualified.
Alexandria Venable got her 3-year-old daughter's bill waived at Fort Worth, Texas-based Cook Children's Health Care System through Dollar For, according to the story. "When it came to medical bills, I was under the impression that you just paid them as you could even if it was only $10 a month — you pay it," she told the news outlet. "It was a massive weight off of my shoulders to receive the help."