BayCare Health System
Financial Assistance Policy
Effective January 1, 2011

BayCare Health System will provide charity care to hospital patients that are determined, as part of an application process, unable to pay for services due to financial hardship. Two programs are used to qualify patients for charity: 1. AHCA Charity meets guidelines established by the State of Florida; 2. Hardship Charity meets guidelines established by BayCare Health System and extends beyond AHCA charity limits. Reasonable efforts will be made to notify patients that they may qualify for financial assistance and how to apply, to include postings in the Admitting Office, emergency rooms, other registration sites, an alert on one billing statement and the entire policy will be posted on the facility's website.  Patients that have submitted complete financial information, and qualified for charity will not be subject to billing and/or collection efforts, and the patient responsibility will be discounted to zero. In addition, hospitals provide care for emergency medical conditions for patients regardless of source of payment or lack of insurance coverage. Financial Assistance team members will be available to patients during designated times to assist patients with determining their eligibility for programs, such as Medicaid.

A Financial Assistance team member can be reached at (855) 233-1555.