CHS hospitals accused of shorting charity care benefits

A lawsuit against Community Health Systems has alleged its two Spokane, Washington hospitals had an organized effort "to drive indigent patients away,” falling short of its charity care requirements by $110 million.

According to the Spokane Spokesman-Review, since CHS bought Spokane Valley Hospital and Deaconess Medical Center in 2008, it has “never met or exceeded the regional average of charity care” as required when it purchased the hospitals. The lawsuit said it fell short by a total of $55 million, an amount which doubled due to hiking up chargemaster rates “far above the rate of medical inflation,” with annual growth rates of 14.7 percent at Valley and 9.4 percent at Deaconess. This in turn inflated the hospitals’ reported provision of charity care.

The suit was filed by the Empire Health Foundation, a nonprofit formed from the proceeds from the CHS sale, which argued that while CHS is now selling the hospitals, it shouldn’t be allowed to keep profits it allegedly earned by breaking its agreement.

“The bottom line is that CHS broke its promise and they’re about to leave the community,” said Antony Chiang, the foundation’s president. “We want to hold them accountable.”

CHS is denying the accusations as “baseless.” Read the full article at the link below: