Illinois § 10

§ 10.

Definitions. As used in this Act: "Bad debt" means the current period charge for actual or expected doubtful accounting resulting from the extension of credit. "Charity care" means care provided by a health care provider for which the provider does not expect to receive payment from the patient or a third party payer. "Charity care" includes the actual cost of services provided based upon the total cost to charge ratio derived from a nonprofit hospital's most recently filed Medicare cost report Worksheet C and not based upon the charges for the services. "Charity care" does not include bad debt. "Community benefits" means the unreimbursed cost to a hospital or health system of providing charity care, language assistant services, government-sponsored health care, donations, volunteer services, education, government-sponsored program services, research, and subsidized health services and collecting bad debts. "Community benefits" does not include the cost of paying any taxes or other governmental assessments. "Financial assistance" means a discount provided to a patient under the terms and conditions the hospital offers to qualified patients or as required by law. "Government-sponsored health care" means the unreimbursed cost to a hospital or health system of Medicare, providing health care services to recipients of Medicaid, and other federal, State, or local health care programs, eligibility for which is based on financial need. "Health system" means an entity that owns or operates at least one hospital. "Net patient revenue" means gross service revenue less provisions for contractual adjustments with third-party payors, courtesy and policy discounts, or other adjustments and deductions, excluding charity care. "Nonprofit hospital" means a hospital that is organized as a nonprofit corporation, including religious organizations, or a charitable trust under Illinois law or the laws of any other state or country. "Subsidized health services" means those services provided by a hospital in response to community needs for which the reimbursement is less than the hospital's cost of providing the services that must be subsidized by other hospital or nonprofit supporting entity revenue sources. "Subsidized health services" includes, but is not limited to, emergency and trauma care, neonatal intensive care, community health clinics, and collaborative efforts with local government or private agencies to prevent illness and improve wellness, such as immunization programs. (Source: P.A. 102-581, eff. 1-1-22.)