Nursing Homes the Next Target for CFPB on Fair Medical Billing
With the soaring prices of nursing homes, comes the medical debt and burdensome collections associated with it. [ Blog ]
We seek to strengthen consumer health advocacy capacity to develop community-driven financial assistance, billing and collection policies that help hospitals better serve their communities and promote economic justice.
With the soaring prices of nursing homes, comes the medical debt and burdensome collections associated with it. [ Blog ]
It’s clear voters delivered broad support for ballot initiatives and candidates that will increase access to health care. [ Press Release ]
It’s clear voters delivered broad support for ballot initiatives and candidates that will increase access to health care. [ Press Release ]
Washington, California & Minnesota attorneys general are taking patient protections seriously. [ Blog ]
The three largest nationwide credit reporting agencies announced they are changing the way medical debt is reported. [ Blog ]
Community Catalyst Mark Rukavina & Quynh Chi Nguyen, talk to Kasier Health News about how medical debt people's economic wellbeing. [ News Clip ]
Mark Rukavina and Quynh Chi Nguyen, medical debt experts at Community Catalyst, quoted in this ABA Journal article. [ News Clip ]
Consumer and health advocates urge final rules that offer full patient protections. [ Blog ]
The true impact of medical debt in Native American communities is still unclear. The quality of data collected may be limited due to the lack of administrative capacity. [ Blog ]
The agency reported an astonishing $88 Billion of medical debt on consumer credit records as of June 2021. This debt disproportionately affects people with low incomes, Black and Hispanic people, veterans, and younger and older adults. [ Blog ]
Community Catalyst Executive Director Emily Stewart talks to Market Watch about medical debt implications. [ News Clip ]
Today, the Biden administration issued new guidance to alleviate the burden that medical debt plays on the lives of one in three people. [ Press Release ]
Project Description: Colorado Center on Law and Policy develop a case study highlighting their successful efforts to engage consumers and policymakers in process of establishing protections for consumers from medical debt. The case study will be used as a model to encourage similar protections throughout the country.
Colorado Center on Law and Policy stands with diverse communities across Colorado in the fight against poverty through research, legislation and legal advocacy.
Project Description: Georgia Watch will leverage the policy expertise and relationships Georgians for a Healthy Future has in the region, as well as the local knowledge and community trust that SOWEGA Rising has as a grassroots, black-led organization based in Southwest Georgia. The partnership will educate Georgians about their rights and work with community groups and local health care providers to implement community-specific polices to address local needs around me dical billing and debt.
Georgia Watch is a statewide non-profit leading consumer advocacy. They advocate for policies that reduce the energy burden of struggling families, expand access to quality, affordable health care, open doors to the financial mainstream, and improve access to the civil justice system.
https://www.facebook.com/GeorgiaWatch
Georgia Watch (@georgiawatch) / Twitter
SOWEGA Rising is a non-profit, non-partisan organization based in Southwest Georgia. The goal is to facilitate Southwest Georgia’s rise from the bottom of the state to the top of the list of quality of life metrics by empowering individuals and revitalizing communities through rural revitalization, community organizing, education, coalition-building and advocacy in the areas of human and civil rights and social justice, and by increasing citizen engagement in the democratic processes of our state.
Georgians for a Healthy Future
Georgians for a Healthy Future's mission is to build and mobilize a unified voice, vision, and leadership to achieve a healthy future for all Georgians. They provide a strong voice for Georgia consumers and communities on the health care issues and decisions that impact their lives.
https://www.facebook.com/HealthyFutureGA
https://www.twitter.com/healthyfuturega
https://www.linkedin.com/company/georgians-for-a-healthy-future
Project Description: New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty will work with Casa de Salud and Forward Together to strengthen consumer advocacy in New Mexico to reduce medical debt by addressing unfair billings and collections practices in hospitals statewide. The partnership will engage families in low-income communities to work with state policymakers and hospitals to maximize public funding and strengthen financial assistance programs.
New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty
The New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty is dedicated to advancing economic and social justice through education, advocacy and litigation. We work with low-income New Mexicans to improve living conditions, increase opportunities and protect the rights of people living in poverty. Through Roadmaps to Health Community Grants, the New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty and its partners will help agricultural workers get the pay they are entitled to and ensure that the DWS is properly enforcing state labor laws.
New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty | Facebook
https://twitter.com/NMPovertyLaw
Justice, Access, Support and Solutions for Health (Casa de Salud)
Casa de Salud is a permanent project of Justice, Access, Support and Solutions for Health (JAZZ for Health), a 501-c-3 nonprofit organization. Casa de Salud is a non-profit community based integrative primary care serving primarily uninsured patients.
https://www.facebook.com/casadesaludnm/
https://twitter.com/CasadesaludNM
Forward Together unites communities to win rights, recognition and resources for all families.
They are a steering team partner in the New Mexico Together for Healthcare Campaign and Coalition where they work to influence state and local level policy in the steps towards quality, affordable healthcare for all in New Mexico. Their mission is to interweave traditional and conventional medicines to meet the physical and spiritual health needs of its patients in a welcoming, just, creative, and inclusive environment.
Strong Families New Mexico | Facebook
Forward Together (@FwdTogether) / Twitter
Project Description: The Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights will engage in partnership with Mujeres Latinas en Acción, Southwest Suburban Immigrant Project, Mano a Mano, Enlace Chicago, and Legal Council for Health Justice to advance consumer-friendly hospital billing and collection policies and racial justice by advocating for changes in law, policy, and practice through developing a state-wide health education and advocacy campaign. The partnership will engage low-income immigrant communities to advocate for increased transparency and accountability on charity care, as well as advocacy for individual patients and with individual health systems in Cook and the collar counties around Chicago.
Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights
ICIRR is a statewide non-profit dedicated to promoting the rights of immigrant and refugees to full and equal participation in the civic, cultural, social, and political life of our diverse society. ICIRR works in partnership with member organizations to build power and organize immigrant and refugee communities.
Mujeres Latinas en Acción is a bilingual/bicultural agency that empowers Latinas through social services and advocacy initiatives that promote non-violence, reproductive health and leadership development.
https://www.facebook.com/mujereslatinas/
https://twitter.com/Mujereslatinas
Southwest Suburban Immigrant Project
Southwest Suburban Immigrant Project is a social impact organization committed to community organizing for the rights of immigrants in Chicago’s southwest suburbs through education, civic engagement, and advocacy.
https://www.facebook.com/SSIPchicago/
https://twitter.com/SSIPchicago
https://www.linkedin.com/company/ssipchicago
Mano a Mano Family Resource Center
Mano a Mano offers a one-stop-shop for culturally competent health resources and services, educational classes and workshops, and immigration legal services for vulnerable communities. Their mission is to empower immigrants and their families to become full participants in their community.
https://www.facebook.com/manoamanofamilyresourcecenter
https://www.instagram.com/manoamanofamilyresourcecenter/
Enlace Chicago convenes, organizes, and builds the capacity of the Little Village neighborhood stakeholders to confront inequities and barriers to economic and social access. Enlace Chicago believes in building power through collaboration and grassroots leadership, promotes livable communities with access and opportunity for all, and values social justice and systems change.
http://www.facebook.com/enlacechicago
http://www.twitter.com/enlacechicago
Legal Council for Health Justice
Legal Council for Health Justice uses the power of the law to secure dignity, opportunity, and well-being for people facing barriers due to illness or disability. They fight for affordable health coverage and prescriptions, safe and stable housing, a free and appropriate education, the nutritious food communities needs to stay healthy, and other resources influenced by social determinants of health.
https://www.facebook.com/legalcouncilforhealthjustice
Project Description: Community Service Society of New York will support efforts to expand their End Medical Debt Coalition and to develop a case study highlighting their successful efforts to engage consumers and policymakers in process of establishing protections for consumers from medical debt. The case study will be used as a model to encourage similar protections throughout the country
The Community Service Society of New York is an informed, independent, and unwavering voice for positive action on behalf of more than 3 million low-income New Yorkers. CSS draws on a 175-year history of excellence in addressing the root causes of economic disparity through research, advocacy, litigation, and innovative program models that strengthen and benefit all New Yorkers.
https://www.facebook.com/CSSNYorg
Letter in response to the proposed policy changes and fiscal year 2023 rates for Medicare Program and Hospital Inpatient Prospective Payment Systems for Acute Care Hospitals and the Long-Term Care Hospital Prospective Payment System [ Comment Letter ]
While we know medical debt is the most common type of debt reported on consumer credit records, very little research has been conducted to understand how medical debt impacts LGBTQ+ people specifically. [ Publication ]
Community Catalyst and U.S. PIRG sent letter to Secretary Becerra, Secretary Yellen, Secretary Walsh, and Administrator Brooks-LaSure discussing ways to strengthen patient protections under the No Surprises Act. [ Comment Letter ]
Community Catalyst urges the Federal Trade Commission to consider impact of hospital consolidation on medical debt, access to care, and continuity of care. [ Comment Letter ]
Consulte esta tabla que resume los derechos de los pacientes bajo la Ley No Sorpresas, que evitaría que los pacientes reciban una factura médica sorpresa de un proveedor que no está en su red de seguro médico. [ Resource ]
Check out this table which summarizes patients' rights under the No Surprises Act (NSA), which would prevent patients from receiving a surprise medical bill from a provider that is not in their health insurance network. [ Resource ]
The goal of this Advocate’s Resource is to equip advocates with important background information, lessons and strategies from successful campaigns to pass state-level policies that help mitigate the harm caused by medical debt. [ Publication ]
Emphasizing the need to strengthen protections for uninsured patients through the NSA dispute resolution process. [ Comment Letter ]
In this letter, our partners urge Secretary Becerra to take action to ensure that uninsured patients know about the availability of the HRSA COVID-19 Uninsured Program. [ Comment Letter ]
We offer comments on the above Interim Final Rule implementing the No Surprises Act to supplement other comments we have submitted: on June 30, 2021, in anticipation of federal rulemaking to implement the No Surprises Act. [ Comment Letter ]
This toolkit illustrates how advocates can leverage American Rescue Plan Act funds to spur transformative change and address the unique needs of communities. [ Publication ]
Conoce los 5 principios que los hospitales deberían seguir para promover la estabilidad económica en las comunidades a las que sirven. [ Publication ]
Community Health Needs Assessment federal regulations require hospitals to address disparities in health care, a key issue Community Catalyst pushed for in comments throughout the rule-making process. The regulations also acknowledge the impact of medical debt on community health, a connection Community Catalyst emphasized in comments.
Choose a state to learn more about our partners