What’s happening: The Department of Health Care Access and Information (HCAI) notified CHA that a significant number of hospitals missed the Jan. 1 deadline to register for HCAI’s new online charity care portal.
What else to know: Hospitals must register primary and secondary representatives for HCAI to contact if it receives a patient complaint about the hospital’s charity care, discount payment, or debt collection practices.
In addition, hospitals were required to submit certain policy information and financial assistance applications by the Jan. 1 deadline. These documents must comply with new regulations that took effect on that date. Even if a hospital’s previously submitted documents comply with the new regulations, it must still register with the HCAI portal and indicate compliance.
HCAI is authorized to levy penalties of $500 per day for late submissions or other violations. Even though hospitals were already required to submit policy information to HCAI, it did not start reviewing for compliance until Jan. 1. CHA advises hospitals to closely review the new regulations and ensure that their charity care policies, applications, signage, and websites are in compliance.
For instructions on how to register and navigate the patient complaint portal, refer to the Hospital Complaint Portal User Guide and HDC User Guide.
HCAI has also issued Program Information Letter 23-01 to inform hospitals that the responsibility for enforcing California’s Hospital Fair Pricing Policies law has been transferred from the California Department of Public Health to HCAI.
For more information, contact Trina Gonzalez, vice president, policy, at tgonzalez@calhospital.org or Lois Richardson, vice president and legal counsel, at lrichardson@calhospital.org.
