Help for the Uninsured Patient
Sutter Solano Medical Center

Sutter Solano's Commitment to Low Income, Uninsured Patients

Sutter Solano Medical Center and the affiliates of Sutter Health have made great strides in better serving our communities by working together to identify and adopt best practices. Sutter Health affiliates recently took another important step in this direction by bringing greater and more thoughtful consistency to patient charity care and payment collection practices in the communities served.

Sutter Health's new policy provides fair discounts and catastrophic protection to low income uninsured patients and ensures consistent and fair collection practices while preserving the financial viability that is key to preserving and growing services in the communities we serve.

The Sutter Health Charity Care and Low Income Uninsured Program is designed to:

• Provide full charity care to low income uninsured patients earning less than 200% of the Federal Poverty Income Guideline (FPIG). For example, 200% of the FPIG level for a family of four equals an annual income of $38,700 (2005).
• Provide discounts equal to Medicare payment for our low income uninsured patients earning between 201% and 400% of the FPIG. For example, 400% of the FPIG level for a family of four equals $77,400 (2005).
• Provide catastrophic protection to low income uninsured patients by limiting their payment liability to 30% of their annual household income.
• Enhance communication of available assistance by expanding communication channels.
• The charity care policy is limited to hospital charges and does not include physician, anesthesiologist or professional charges that are not billed by the hospital.
• Our standardized collection practices prohibit wage garnishments and bench warrants, and prohibits property foreclosures.
  

Need More Information

If you would like to know more about charity care at Sutter Solano, please contact the Central Business Services Department in Sacramento at 800-353-3369.