Apply for Hospital Financial Assistance Before Collections

  1. Identify the hospital and pull your bill details
    20 min

    Pull together everything the hospital sent you, then turn it into a list.

    1. Collect every statement, insurance explanation of benefits, and letter you have for the visit or stay.
    2. For each bill, write down: the hospital's legal name and address as printed on the statement header; the account number; the dates of service; the total amount charged; and the amount due after insurance.
    3. Note who issued the bill — the hospital itself or an outside billing company, often named in small print at the bottom of the statement or on the envelope.
    4. Look on the statement for a financial-assistance notice: IRS rules require nonprofit hospitals to print one on every billing statement.
    5. If there is more than one stay or visit, list each separately with its own account number.

    Keep: the list in one place — a note, a sheet, or a folder — because every later step in this phase reads from it.