South By North Strategies, Ltd.

A new report by Adam Linker of the North Carolina Health Access Coalition looks at the charity care practices and policies of the state’s 112 hospitals. According to the study, 35 percent of these hospitals post clear, comprehensive charity care policies online.

More specifically, the study call on all hospitals to set an ambitious charity care standard:

Hospitals should strive to provide free care to families earning less than 200 percent of federal poverty level and provide some discount to families earning less than 300 percent of federal poverty level. Hospitals should consider benchmarking charity care policies to a reasonable cost-of-living index like the Living Income Standard.