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Muddy picture of hospital billing,
Boston Globe, Letter to Editor
2/14/2006 -- Cambridge Health Alliance
was one of many stakeholders consulted for the inspector general's
study of the uncompensated care pool. Yet only two hospitals were
named in your article, so readers might conclude all issues the
story cited related only to the two of us. This is not true.
We do acknowledge past billing errors
related to prescription drugs for uninsured patients. What didn't
get mentioned is that those errors have been corrected and steps
were taken to immediately self-disclose to the responsible state
agency so any necessary refunds could be made.
Focusing on charges for a few services
doesn't tell the whole story. Hospitals are reimbursed on an aggregate
basis for free care, not for departmental charges. We have one of
the lowest overall charge mark-ups among Massachusetts hospitals.
We strongly disagree that we have excessively billed for free care,
as borne out by our financial results. We suffered a $21 million
loss during the first period examined and barely broke even the
following two fiscal years.
We do agree that government financing
for indigent care is badly broken and needs repair. Cambridge Health
Alliance -- the state's last public safety net provider for the
poor, working poor, and severely indigent -- is, and will continue
to be, a prudent steward of the funds we have received from multiple
government sources.
DENNIS D. KEEFE
Chief executive
Cambridge Health Alliance
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