Nathaly Andrade, Tristan Gibson, Han Le, Kevin Petrozzo, Jessica Rueb, and
Laura Sandoval
Promoting and ensuring access to medically necessary health care services is an important component of maintaining the health and wellbeing of a community. Equally important is for that health care to be accessible to and equitable for all populations, without barriers or limitations lack of due to ability to pay. As such, this report explores the various existing state programs and initiatives designed to ease the financial burden of health care and help promote access. The report also includes a series of policy recommendations to inform future policy development efforts relative to New Jersey’s Charity Care program.
In New Jersey, the Department of Health (NJDOH), administers and oversees the Hospital Care Payment Assistance Program (also known as the Charity Care program), and works in close partnership with the Department of Human Services to process claims submitted as part of the program. The Charity Care program mandates that all acute care hospitals in the state of New Jersey provide free or reduced cost inpatient and outpatient care to eligible individuals who receive medically necessary care within specified income ranges.
NJDOH partnered with Master of Public Policy students at Rutgers to identify innovative approaches to inform the development and implementation of systemic changes and quality improvement initiatives for the Charity Care program. Further, the partnership also sought to better understand how New Jersey compares to other states in providing financial assistance to low-income individuals.
To accomplish this, a survey titled, Uncompensated Care and Other Related Care Models, was developed and disseminated to all 50 states, as well as the District of Columbia, to obtain information on existing programs and initiatives designed to provide financial assistance for individuals who require medically necessary health care services. In addition to the initial survey outreach, several case studies were completed to gather additional, more granular and detailed information on the nuances of the state’s respective program/initiative components. Based on a review of relevant literature, creation of case studies, survey responses, and stakeholder interviews, the following recommendations were developed: