Contra Costa Times, "Nonprofit hospitals to detail charity care"

          Raising questions about the non-profit status of 10 hospitals and hospital systems, including Northern California's largest chain, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, sent a letter this week requesting information about their charity care. Grassley said he is conducting the inquiry because he wants to explore whether these hospitals deserve their tax-exempt status. The letter outlines 46 questions, many concerning the hospitals' charity care policies.
          "I'm encouraged to see Congress looking at this issue," said Kelly Dermody, a partner at Lieff Cabraser Heimann Bernstein LLP, a law firm that filed suit against Sutter. Dermody said the hospital industry has routinely used collection agencies to pursue uninsured patients, then reported whatever patients didn't pay as charity care. "The last time I understood what charity care meant, it did not mean ruining someone's credit," she said.
          Dermody did say that Sutter, along with other hospitals in California, have improved their official policies for uninsured patients in response to public pressure. In February, Sutter said it would offer free care for uninsured patients earning 200 percent of the federal poverty guidelines, or $37,700 for a family of four. It said it would charge patients earning between 200 percent and 400 percent of the federal poverty guidelines at a rate equivalent to that of Medicare plus 20 percent.
          But while the new policies sound good on paper, Dermody said Sutter and other hospitals are not doing enough to inform patients. "If they (patients) don't use the magic words, then no one at the billing level adjusts them automatically," she said. "We still have a lot of work to do to get the non-profit hospitals to do better by uninsured patients."