Part I, Line 7 - Explanation of Costing Methodology
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The costs were determined by using a cost-to-charge ratio. The cost-to-charge computation is based on hospital specific data included in the system-wide audited combined financial statements. The formula used for computation equals financial statement data labeled as follows:Total expenses - (Provision for bad debts + Other revenue + Interest income) divided by Gross patient chargesThe hospital is located in a medically underserved area and participates in a quality assurance fee program with the State of California to fund certain Medi-Cal coverage expansions. The state redistributes funds to hospitals that provide patient care to a higher proportion of indigent and medically underprivileged patients, who otherwise would most likely not have access to physicians and other medical services. The community benefit analysis includes receipts from this redistribution that are used to assist in partially offsetting the significant costs associated with providing patient care to this population group. The program may or may not continue in the future based on the State of Californias regulations and policies and the approval of the federal government.
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Part III, Line 2 - Methodology Used To Estimate Bad Debt Expense
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Uncollected patient accounts are analyzed using written patient financial services policies that apply standard procedures for all patient accounts. The result of the analysis is what is recognized as bad debt expense. For example, all self-pay patients receive a discount. If the discounted account is unpaid after collection efforts, the unpaid balance is classified as bad debt. The cost-to-charge ratio described for Part I, Line 7 is multiplied times the hospital's bad debt expense as reported in the system-wide audited combined financial statements. The resulting figure has been reported as bad debts at cost on Part III, Line 2.
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Part III, Line 3 - Methodology of Estimated Amount & Rationale for Including in Community Benefit
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The portion of the bad debts attributed to charity care as reported on Part III, Line 3 was calculated by an independent third-party consulting firm. This is an estimate of additional charity care that would have been granted if patients had cooperated by furnishing family financial information. A statistically valid sampling of patient accounts written-off was evaluated. The evaluation used various factors to determine which patients would have been eligible for charity care. Had the hospital obtained sufficient information from all patients who qualified for financial assistance, these additional accounts would have been recorded as charity care instead of bad debt.
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Part III, Line 4 - Bad Debt Expense
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The system-wide audited combined financial statements do not contain a footnote describing bad debt expense.
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Part III, Line 8 - Explanation Of Shortfall As Community Benefit
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The Medicare cost report apportions the hospitals costs based on inpatient days and ancillary and outpatient charges to establish the costing methodology.Healthcare delivery by hospitals is a complex, highly regulated business in the United States. Healthcare unit cost inflation is driven by compliance with ever-expanding regulatory requirements, shortages of highly skilled labor and evolving medical and information technology. The healthcare market basket is unrelated to that of the average individual consumer.Since the 1997 Balanced Budget Act, Medicare annual payment updates have fallen behind actual healthcare cost inflation to the point that Medicare payments to many U.S. hospitals are well below the cost of providing care. These unreimbursed costs are a community benefit for seniors and others in the community as these individuals are continuing to receive care without which many would become dependent on other governmental resources such as Medicaid. The benefit to the community for healthier Medicare recipients is no different than those benefits the community realizes for uninsured and underinsured patients who are eligible for partial and full charity care. Medicare is a safety net for seniors and others. Without Medicare coverage, many individuals would undoubtedly qualify for charity care.In addition to the mismatch between Medicare payment increases and healthcare cost inflation, the highly complex Medicare payment systems and formulas produce disparate payment levels from one hospital to another for the same service. These disparate payment levels create disparate results within groups of hospitals.Our mission is to promote health in the community regardless of a person's ability to pay. We provide care to those with Medicare coverage who present themselves to our facility without consideration that the costs may or may not be fully reimbursed. The Medicare shortfall is a community benefit because care is provided to Medicare beneficiaries who are primarily elderly and disabled individuals on fixed incomes and who usually have no other resources with which to obtain medical care. We are thus relieving a local and federal government burden by caring for these people. *Medicare Cost Report Revenue 18,570,401Prior Year Settlements 4,131,609Cost Report Reimbursable Bad Debts 253,075Estimates and Accrual Variances 2,640,835Other (3,863,778)Subtotal - Amount reported in Pt III, line 5 21,732,142Amounts included in Part I, lines f and g -Total Medicare Revenue 21,732,142*Note: The Medicare Cost Report Revenue includes the patient co-pay and deductible amounts, but not the bad-debt reimbursement. Adding the bad-debt reimbursement would have duplicated the revenue and deductible amounts.
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Part III, Line 9b - Provisions On Collection Practices For Qualified Patients
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When a patient has requested screening for charity care, the hospital must immediately cease collection activity and place the account in a charity pending status. If 100% charity is approved, the entire account balance is written off to charity care. If the patient has a sliding scale liability based on the federal poverty guidelines, they are billed only for that liability. If the patient fails to pay their after-charity liability, they are assigned to a collection agency with an identifier that indicates to the agency that the patient is "low income" and the following criteria must be followed by the agency:1. They may not report the patient to a credit bureau2. They may not file a lawsuit to recover the outstanding liability3. They may not charge interest
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Part VI, Line 2 - Needs Assessment
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The hospital's 2016 CHNA, the 2017 Community Health Plan (CHP) Update/Annual Report, and the 2016 Implementation Strategy (adopted in May 2017), known as the 2017 Community Health Plan (Implementation Strategy) & 2016 Update/Annual Report, are posted on the hospital's website at https://www.adventisthealth.org/about-central-valley/community-benefit/. The CHNA, Implementation Strategy, and the CHPs are also available on the Adventist Health Corporate website at https://www.adventisthealth.org/about-us/community-benefit/.The Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA) includes both the activity and product of identifying and prioritizing a community's health needs, accomplished through the collection and development of a community health plan. The second component of the CHNA, the community health plan, includes strategies and plans to address prioritized needs, with the goal of contributing to improvements in the community's health. Qualitative and quantitative data sources were used in conducting the CHNA. Quantitative data was gathered through Kaiser Permanentes CHNA Data Platform and local county and national data. We also look at the needs of our patients by looking at trends in our admissions rates. For our CHNA, a total of 15 focus groups were conducted, ranging in size from 4 to 24 participants. In addition, interviews were conducted by phone or in person with 95 individuals considered to be key stakeholders in all four counties: County Public Health Directors, hospital executives and nonprofit leaders who serve the community with social, health, or educational support services. These key stakeholders were selected by the workgroup because they would provide a unique perspective on the health of the community, health care delivery systems in place and overall conditions that influence health behaviors. An online survey was also developed from the focus group questions.
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Part VI, Line 3 - Patient Education of Eligibility for Assistance
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The plain language summary of the Financial Assistance Policy (FAP) is posted along with the complete FAP policy and FAP Application on the hospital's website at https://www.adventisthealth.org/central-valley-patient-resources/financial-services/financial-assistance/.These documents are available in multiple languages.At the time of registration, patients who are uninsured and underinsured are provided information about government healthcare programs. Patients are also orally informed of their right to request charity assistance. Signs are displayed in the patient business office, patient registration areas and the emergency room in multiple languages informing patients of this right as well. The hospital also provides a brochure during the registration process that explains the hospital billing and collection procedures, and how to request financial assistance. In addition, every billing statement sent to patients contains information on how to request financial assistance.
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Part VI, Line 4 - Community Information
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The hospital is a part of the Adventist Health Central Valley Network operating more than 60 sites in Kings, Tulare, Kern, Madera and southern Fresno counties. Some of the poorest congressional districts with some of the worst health disparities in California are in the service area. Many of the communities served are in rural and do not have the infrastructure that supports active lifestyles. The area largely depends on agriculture, government employment, hospitals and educational institutions for jobs.About 90% of population is Hispanic/Latino and White non-Hispanic residents. The next largest ethnic group is Asian, estimated at 5%. African-Americans followed with 4%, American Indian, multiracial population and Pacific Islander complete the other 2%. A large portion of the population are Spanish language speakers.
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Part VI, Line 4 - Community Building Activities
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The hospital is involved in numerous community building activities which promote the health of the communities it serves. Numerous community concerns are addressed, including health improvement, education, poverty, workforce development and access to care. We also encourage our employees to serve on community collaboration boards, health advocacy programs, and physical improvement projects to promote the health of the communities we serve. In addition, we work with neighborhood programs, including schools, work sites and safety net providers to promote health and wellness and prevent disease. These activities are not included elsewhere on Schedule H.
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Part VI, Line 5 - Promotion of Community Health
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Our hospitals mission is, Living Gods love by inspiring health, wholeness and hope. Our community benefit work is rooted deep within our mission and merely an extension of our mission and service. We have also incorporated our community benefit work to be an integral component of improving the triple aim. The Triple Aim concept broadly known and accepted within health care includes:1) Improve the experience of care for our residents.2) Improve the health of populations.3) Reduce the per capita costs of health care.Our strategic investments in our community are focused on a more planned, proactive approach to community health. The basic issue of good stewardship is making optimal use of limited charitable funds. Defaulting to charity care in our emergency rooms for the most vulnerable is not consistent with our mission. An upstream and more proactive and strategic allocation of resources enables us to help low income populations avoid preventable pain and suffering; in turn allowing the reallocation of funds to serve an increasing number of people experiencing health disparities.Hospitals and health systems are facing continuous challenges during this historic shift in our health system. Given todays state of health, where cost and heartache is soaring, now more than ever, we believe we can do something to change this. These challenges include a paradigm shift in how hospitals and health systems are positioning themselves and their strategies for success in a new payment environment. This will impact everyone in a community and will require shared responsibility among all stakeholders. As hospitals move toward population health management, community health interventions are a key element in achieving the overall goals of reducing the overall cost of health care, improving the health of the population, and improving access to affordable health services for the community both in outpatient and community settings. The key factor in improving quality and efficiency of the care hospitals provide is to include the larger community they serve as a part of their overall strategy. Population health is not just the overall health of a population, but also includes the distribution of health. Overall health could be quite high if the majority of the population is relatively healthyeven though a minority of the population is much less healthy. Ideally such differences would be eliminated or at least substantially reduced.Community health can serve as a strategic platform to improve the health outcomes of a defined group of people, concentrating on three correlated stages:1) The distribution of specific health statuses and outcomes within a population; 2) Factors that cause the present outcomes distribution; and 3) Interventions that may modify the factors to improve health outcomes.Improving population health requires effective initiatives to: 1) Increase the prevalence of evidence-based preventive health services and preventive health behaviors, 2) Improve care quality and patient safety, and 3) Advance care coordination across the health care continuum. We will work together with our community to ensure the community health improvements are identified and then targeted for programs to influence behaviors to obtain improved health within the whole community.
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Part VI, Line 6 - Affilated Health Care System
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The hospital is a member of Adventist Health, a health care system which provides healthcare services in diverse markets within the Western United States. A member hospital may share some services with other member hospitals in its geographic area, such as clinical, management and support services. Using today's technology, hospitals outside the geographic area are able to provide support through remote services such as telepharmacy and robotics surgery. The Corporate Office provides important shared administrative support for member hospitals' rural health clinics and home care agencies, quality of care, other clinical needs, financing and risk management, and shared clinical and financial information technology. As many experienced and new physicians search for alternatives to independent practice, there is also corporate administrative support for hospital affiliated medical groups that engage physicians through employment or other contracts. This provides stability and growth of qualified physicians across many specialties, which is very important to make healthcare services available and to maintain and improve health within the communities served by all member hospitals.
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Part VI, Line 7 - States Filing of Community Benefit Report
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CA
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