Health

Unreimbursed Care to 55 Gunshot Victims Among Bad Debt Costing Schneider Hospital Millions in Lost Revenue

Underpayment and unpaid hospital bills, largely for patients on Medicare, Medicaid, or who have no insurance, are costing the Schneider Regional Medical Center to lose millions in revenue each year. Tina Comissiong, the chief executive officer at SRMC said the hospital is being reimbursed below cost for these patient encounters which accounts for over 76 percent of its work load.  In 2021, Medicare and Medicaid paid the hospital approximately $24.8 million below the cost of providing care. This means that on average SRMC only receives $0.55 cents on every dollar it spends caring for Medicare and Medicaid. It also receives less than 0.10 cents on every dollar it bills self-pay patients for care. “Our gross monthly patient billing now averages $10 Million to $12 Million. However, due to the high contractual adjustments made to our rates by Medicare and Medicaid, our high self-pay population, and with our added challenges with collections, SRMC only collects between $4 Million and $5 M...