Bad Debt at Missouri Hospitals Jumped 56% in 2006

Missouri Hospitals saw uncompensated care expense increase 32 percent to $637.4 million in 2006, according to the Missouri Hospital Association.

Bad debt accounted for nearly 56 percent or $87.9 million of the $157.3 million increase (www.focusonhospitals.com) in uncompensated care.  Missouri hospitals also provided $260.7 million in free care, up 32 percent from $191 million a year earlier.

The MHA said the steep rise in uncompensated care stems largely from treating the uninsured, which made up about 8.4 percent of the state’s population in 2004.

“The Sharp increase in uncompensated care at Missouri’s hospitals punctuates the need for attention to the state’s health insurance crisis,” Mohan’s president Marc D. Smith said in a press release. “Hospitals are committed to serving their communities’ health needs.  However, as the number of uninsured Missourians expands, the ability of hospitals to provide an adequate safety net will diminish.”

According to the MHA, of the state’s 150 hospitals who provided data for the report, St. Louis Barnes Jewish Hospital tallied the largest amount of bad debt expense at $28.5 million. Cox Health system in Springfield was next with $23.7 million in bad debt, followed by St. Louis University Hospital with $13.8 million in bad debt expense.