Hospitals in Missouri are seeing their charity care and bad debt rise as more services aren't paid for, according to a community investment report from the Missouri Hospital Association.
Including charity care and bad debt, Missouri hospitals saw their uncompensated care costs grow $80 million from 2017-18. In total, hospitals provided $1.5 billion in uncompensated care in 2018, with nearly two-thirds of the growth coming from charity care. Bad debt increased by nearly $30 million in the year span.
The Missouri Hospital Association estimates that with other benefits like donations and unpaid costs related to treating Medicare and Medicaid patients, Missouri hospitals spent $3 billion on community investments in 2018.
Read the full report here.