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Hospitals have to offer financial help. Most people never apply.

Nonprofit hospitals are required to have a financial assistance policy. mediloop checks whether an employee's or member's bill qualifies, and a human advocate handles the application with the hospital.

A human advocate on every caseDirect intake for the personAggregate reporting
What it is

Financial assistance support as a benefit

Hospital financial assistance, often called charity care, is free or discounted care a hospital gives to patients who qualify under its written policy. Under section 501(r) of the tax code, every nonprofit hospital has to have one and publicise it.

As a benefit, mediloop checks an employee's or member's hospital bill against that hospital's policy, gathers what the application needs, and a human advocate sends it and follows up. Eligibility is set by each hospital, and policies differ on income limits, household size and whether balances after insurance qualify.

The rules nonprofit hospitals follow

Three federal rules that work in the patient's favour.

A written policy

Section 501(r)(4): a nonprofit hospital must have a written financial assistance policy and an emergency care policy, and must publicise them widely.

A limit on charges

Section 501(r)(5): a patient who qualifies can't be charged more than the amounts generally billed to insured patients for emergency or medically necessary care.

Time to apply

Section 501(r)(6): no extraordinary collection action for at least 120 days after the first statement, and a 240 day window to apply.

These rules cover nonprofit hospitals. For-profit and government hospitals may have their own programs, and some states add rules of their own.

How it works

From a bill on the table to an application in.

01

The person sends their bill

An employee or member uploads the hospital bill through mediloop's intake and authorizes their own case. HR never sees income or medical details.

02

Eligibility is checked

AI-powered investigation reads the bill and matches it to the hospital's published policy. A human advocate confirms which tier the person may fall into and what proof is needed.

03

The application is handled

The advocate prepares the application, asks the hospital to hold collections while it is reviewed, and follows up until there is a decision.

See the research for yourself

The policies we work from are public.

Hospital policies

Financial assistance policies of the largest nonprofit systems

Income lines, sliding scales and application links, read from the hospitals' own policies and sorted by state.

Free tool

Charity care checker

A quick state by state check of hospital financial assistance rules. Free, and no signup.

Sources

Where these facts come from

  1. IRS, Financial assistance policy, section 501(r)(4), Internal Revenue Service
  2. IRS, Limitation on charges, section 501(r)(5), Internal Revenue Service
  3. IRS, Billing and collections, section 501(r)(6), Internal Revenue Service
  4. KFF Health Care Debt Survey, KFF
Questions buyers ask

Financial assistance, answered.

Sometimes. It depends on the hospital's policy. Some policies cover balances left after insurance, such as a deductible or coinsurance, and some only cover uninsured patients. mediloop checks the specific hospital's policy for each bill.
Every nonprofit hospital, under section 501(r) of the tax code. It must have a written financial assistance policy, publicise it, limit charges for eligible patients to the amounts generally billed to insured patients, and give patients time to apply before extraordinary collection actions.
Nothing they aren't entitled to do themselves. What mediloop adds is the work: finding the right policy, checking the bill against it, preparing the application, asking for a collections hold and following up. Most people with a large bill don't know the policy exists.
No. The person shares their documents with mediloop directly for their own case. The organization receives agreed aggregate reporting only.
Nonprofit hospitals have to give a 240 day window to apply, counted from the first post-discharge statement, so an application may still be possible. Cases already in collections are reviewed one by one during scoping.

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