Charity Care Policy
Our Commitment to Low Income Uninsured Patients
St. Luke’s Hospital and the affiliates of Sutter Health are committed to better serving our communities by working together to identify and adopt best practices that benefit our patients, the community and our employees.
St. Luke’s Hospital has provided a comprehensive Financial Assistance program to assist patients in a compassionate manner. In February 2004, Sutter Health and their affiliates took another important step in this direction by expanding our financial assistance and payment collection practices in the communities we serve.
Our revised policy provides fair discounts and catastrophic protection to low income uninsured patients and ensures consistent and fair collection practices. We are also committed to ensuring a financially sound organization through responsible care over the resources entrusted to us, so that we continue to provide outstanding medical care with the latest advances and a highly skilled workforce.
The St. Luke’s Hospital Financial Assistance Program:
- Provides full charity care to uninsured patients earning less than 400% of the Federal Poverty Income Guideline (FPIG). (*)•
- Offers 30% discount off total actual charges to uninsured patients when full payment is received within 30 days from first bill date.
- Provide catastrophic protection to low income or uninsured patients by limiting their payment liability to 30% of their annual household income.
(*) NOTE: The FPIG is updated each year in February and can be located at: http://aspe.hhs.gov/poverty/index.shtml
Our financial assistance policy is limited to hospital charges and does not include physician, anesthesiologist or professional charges. In addition, financial assistance is not offered for cosmetic, elective, experimental or other treatments and all hospital services must be ordered by your physician.
For more detailed information, or to receive answers to your questions,
please call (415) 641-6676 or fax (415) 641-6621.