Uncompensated care provided by private practice physicians in Florida

While a great deal of attention has been paid in recent years to establishing the magnitude and characteristics of uncompensated care in hospitals, comparatively little research has been undertaken to study physician uncompensated care. This article reports the results of a prospective patient-speci...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Health services research 1991-08, Vol.26 (3), p.277-302
Main Authors: Kilpatrick, K E, Miller, M K, Dwyer, J W, Nissen, D
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Aged
Care and treatment
Charities - statistics & numerical data
Charities, Medical
Child
Child, Preschool
Company financing
Comparative analysis
Demography
Fees, Medical
Female
Finance
Florida
Health aspects
Health services
Humans
Indigent care
Infant
Insurance, Physician Services - statistics & numerical data
Losses
Male
Medical charities
Medical Indigency - statistics & numerical data
Medical professions
Middle Aged
Models, Statistical
Nonpayment
Patient Credit and Collection - statistics & numerical data
Patients
Physicians
Polls & surveys
Poor
Poor people
Practice Management, Medical
Private
Private Practice - economics
Socioeconomic Factors
Statistical data
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Summary:While a great deal of attention has been paid in recent years to establishing the magnitude and characteristics of uncompensated care in hospitals, comparatively little research has been undertaken to study physician uncompensated care. This article reports the results of a prospective patient-specific study of uncompensated care in Florida. Of 4,042 cases examined, 26.2 percent had charges voluntarily reduced below the usual and customary charge at the time of service. However, only 13.5 percent of those reductions were attributed to charity. Overall, 10.4 percent of the total billed amount was left unresolved. When payment source was considered, it was found that self-pay patients accounted for 30.6 percent of the cases but accounted for 52.0 percent of the unresolved amounts. Further analysis indicated that the self-pay patients were 35.5 times more likely to leave an outstanding balance than individuals with some type of insurance coverage. Odds of unresolved balances were also calculated as a function of income, specialty type, practice size, and type of visit.
ISSN:0017-9124
1475-6773