Minnesota hospitals are reporting more bad debt, despite an increase in the number of state residents with health insurance, according to a Star Tribune report.
Here are three things to know about the issue.
1. Total uncompensated care by hospitals increased from $573 million in 2013 to $589 million in 2014, even though charity care for the uninsured dropped by 26 percent, according to the report.
2. An increase in patients with bad debt added to a 4.6 percent increase in hospitals' community benefit — the total amount of unreimbursed support they provide to the state. According to the Star Tribune,benefits provided by the hospitals included care for the needy, public skin cancer checks and flu shot clinics, among others.
3. According to the report, the Minnesota Hospital Association attributed approximately $2.5 billion of the hospitals' total community benefit to the organizations absorbing the costs of serving patients covered by Medicare and Medicaid, which reimburse at below hospitals' requested rates.
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