FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE PROGRAM
Punxsutawney Area Hospital Financial Assistance Policy
Punxsutawney Area Hospital offers Financial Assistance under a Financial Assistance Program to eligible individuals, providing partially or fully discounted emergent or medically necessary hospital care to eligible individuals and families. You can obtain an application and additional information from any of the sources below:
Phone a Financial Counselor at 814-938-1618 between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. Monday through Friday.
- Download and print the application here
- Write to the Financial Counselor at Punxsutawney Area Hospital, 81 Hillcrest Drive, Punxsutawney, PA 15767
- Visit a Financial Counselor at the Billing Office of Punxsutawney Area Hospital, 81 Hillcrest Drive, Punxsutawney, PA 15767
- Stop at any registration area of the hospital and request information on Financial Assistance Programs.
Determination of Eligibility for the Financial Assistance Program is made based on review of a complete application and supporting documents, including proof of income, family size, and assets when applicable. Generally, patients with family income of 200% of the Federal Poverty Level or less may be eligible for a discount of 100%. Patients with family income at 350% of the Federal Poverty Level may be eligible for a discount of at least 25%. Patients and Families who are not eligible for discounts may participate in an established payment plan with our partner vendor. Patients and families will not be charged more for Emergency or other medically necessary care than Amounts Generally Billed (AGB) to those patients who have insurance.
Language translation of the Financial Assistance Program and application are available by request at the Financial Counseling Department of the hospital at the address listed above. In order to make our patients, families, and the community aware of the Hospital’s Financial Assistance Program, the Hospital has ensured that this information is available by posting of signage, development of this statement, and distribution of informational brochures at registration areas. If you need additional information or have questions, please contact Financial Counseling at the address or phone number stated above.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
You may have heard that as of January 1, 2019, hospitals have price information online. Here is important information to help you understand what you are looking at.
- A chargemaster is a list of medical codes and prices for everything a hospital provides to patients.
- Each hospital has its own chargemaster list that is used for billing purposes.
- The chargemaster list is not the negotiated price between hospitals and insurers, and it is not the price that most patients would pay for care.
- The chargemaster list is not the best tool for patients to figure out the cost of their health care services.
- Most people would not know all the medical codes that would be used for their care before they receive treatment.
- The prices on the chargemaster list are not the actual payment rates that hospitals receive. And chargemaster prices are almost never the actual amount a patient is responsible for.
The best way to understand what you will pay out-of-pocket is to work with your hospital and your insurer. In general:
- Individuals with insurance will pay any copayments, coinsurance, or deductible due.
- Individuals without insurance might be eligible for financial assistance or charity care, or may be able to receive a reduced price from the hospital.
Below are links to two data bases. The first is a listing of almost 4,000 different charges within our “chargemaster” for services rendered at the hospital. The second is data showing the average total charges for inpatient services by diagnosis related groupings (DRG’s) for discharged patients from 10/01/2017 through 9/30/2018. This may approximate what your total charges could be if you require similar services.
Punxsutawney Area Hospital Price Transparency Machine Readable File
Financial Assistance Income Guidelines
Financial Assistance Application
Medical Debt Financing- AblePay
Nondiscrimination Policy Statement
Your Rights and Protections Against Surprise Medical Billing