Mineola, N.Y. -Nassau County Executive Thomas R. Suozzi, together with Nassau County Commissioner of Health, Dr. David Ackman, Deputy County Executive of Health and Human Services, Dr. Mary Curtis, Presiding Officer of the Nassau County Legislature, Judy Jacobs, Deputy Presiding Officer, Roger Corbin and Legislator Jeffrey Toback, along with a number of community health and human service officials, today released Nassau County's first charity care report. The report, required under a law passed in 2003, was established to assess the need for and maximize access to charity care at Nassau County hospitals.

"This report is an important first step in demonstrating the county's concern over the health of our residents in greatest need," County Executive Suozzi said. "My number one public health priority is to reduce health care disparities and to do that we need a health care system that is responsive to the needs of all our communities."

"The improvements in policies and procedures detailed in this report are a step in the right direction in serving the more than 130,000 uninsured or underinsured county residents who rely on charity care," said Deputy County Executive of Health and Human Services, Dr. Mary Curtis. "Improved charity care procedures can increase access and help to reduce the health and healthcare disparities experienced most often by minority communities."

"From the beginning, Nassau County's hospitals gave the county and the Health Department their full cooperation," said Commissioner of Health, Dr. David M Ackman. "The Nassau-Suffolk Hospital Corporation has worked with their members to implement and improve policy and practices and this report was produced with the full collaboration of Nassau County's hospitals."

The report details the programs available at all 12 county hospitals, the number of charity care patients treated, the residence by zip code of those patients served and a summary of the policies and procedures designed to make it easier for medically indigent persons to apply for and receive charity care.

Major findings of the report include:

• The new or improved policies and procedures implemented by all 12 county hospitals in assisting patients applying for charity care
• All hospitals complied with the requirement to post signs in multiple languages
• Hospitals provided care to more than 49,000 patients [at a total cost of $45 million]
• Most patients receiving charity care did so at their local hospital
• There was significant variation among hospitals in the reported number of charity care patients served and the cost of the care provided

"This report is a good start to understanding the relative contribution of our hospitals to meeting the health care needs of our medically indigent," said County Executive Suozzi. "We applaud the efforts made to comply with this law and each hospitals commitment to serves its community. We hope that this report is helpful in defining and building on that commitment."

A copy of this report, and related documents are available below. (Adobe Acrobat Reader® required).

Fiscal Year 2003 Nassau County Hospital Charity Care Report ( ~ 68 kB PDF file )

Nassau Suffolk Hospital Council Comments on Nassau County Local Law 1-2003 Report By Nassau County Department of Health ( ~ 17 kB PDF file )

TITLE F - Charitable Medical Care (Law) ( ~ 20 kB PDF file )