Medicaid DSH Survey

Tanner Health System is committed to caring for every member of our community.

We provide healthcare services without regard for a patient’s ability to pay. When financial assistance is appropriate, we work with patients and families on determining eligibility for Medicaid and Medicare, provide charity care and offer self-pay discounts to uninsured patients with the ability to pay.

Our Policies

We continually evaluate our financial assistance and self-pay discount policies and practices to ensure optimal access.

Patients are provided with information about our charity/indigent program at the time of registration and on our website. Any self-pay or underinsured patients must meet criteria for indigent care to have the cost of their care written off by the health system.

• Patients who meet the criteria for Medicaid eligibility are referred to an outside vendor for assistance with enrollment.

• A patient with family income up to 200% (two times) of the Federal Poverty Guidelines based on family size receives a 100% discount for medically necessary services.

• Patients with large, medically necessary medical bills that have created a financial hardship are considered for a sliding scale discount. More charity allowances are provided for patients with a lower discretionary income and higher healthcare bills.

• Patients whose family income exceeds two times the applicable federal poverty guidelines may also qualify for sliding scale discounts on medically necessary services.

About Medicaid and DSH

Medicaid is the nation’s public health insurance program for people with low income, covering 1 in 5 low-income Americans — including many with complex and costly needs for care.

The Medicaid program is structured as a federal-state partnership and jointly financed by the states and federal government. Medicaid facilitates access to care for millions of Americans, particularly for special populations including poor children, children with special healthcare needs, nonelderly adults with disabilities and nursing home residents.

Most Medicaid spending is for elderly and people with disabilities, who make up 25% of beneficiaries but account for almost two-thirds of Medicaid spending.

The Medicaid DSH program, created in 1981, provides payments to hospitals that serve high populations of Medicaid beneficiaries and uninsured low-income patients to help offset uncompensated care costs. This program is an important funding stream for hospitals, particularly not-for-profit health providers like Tanner Health System.

The federal law sets a ceiling for the DSH funding each hospital may receive; a hospital can receive no more than the total amount of uncompensated care provided by the hospital. States distribute DSH payments to eligible hospitals, and each year an annual financial report is submitted to the state for each hospital that includes an independently certified audit of its DSH payments to ensure integrity and compliance with the law.

Tanner DSH Reports

Three of our Georgia hospitals —Tanner Medical Center/Carrollton, Tanner Medical Center/Villa Rica and Higgins General Hospital — serve particularly high populations of Medicaid beneficiaries and uninsured low-income patients. They were recipients of Medicaid Disproportionate Share Hospital (DSH) program funds in fiscal year 2022. Each hospital retained 100% of those payments.

We are pleased to share the state of Georgia’s Disproportionate Share Hospital (DSH) Examination Certification for each hospital for State DSH Year 2022:

• Tanner Medical Center/Carrollton 
• Tanner Medical Center/Villa Rica 
• Higgins General Hospital