Posts

Posted on

Medical debt relief isn’t just about policy. It’s about people

…The federal financial assistance policy requires all tax-exempt hospitals to establish a written policy offering free or discounted care to qualifying patients. This policy exists because nonprofit hospitals receive billions in tax breaks each year. In 2021 alone, U.S. nonprofit hospitals benefited from $37.4 billion in tax exemptions. In return, they are required to provide community benefits, including financial assistance. 

Yet, every year, low-income patients like my father receive medical bills they should never have gotten — bills that, in some cases, push families into bankruptcy.  

READ MORE
Posted on

I was rushed to the ER. And all I got were nine months of medical bills. 

The hospital gave my health insurance company a big discount. But they weren’t going to negotiate with me. 

January 29, 2025 

…The hospital I visited agreed to accept just over $2,500 from my insurance company — on an initial bill of $4,500 — but, to my surprise, it wanted another $701 from me. This size of charge isn’t unusual: The national average out-of-pocket cost that insured patients paid for an ER visit was $646, according to a 2022 report from Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker. 

…A Kaiser Health News analysis in 2019 found 45 percent of nonprofit hospitals were routinely sending bills to people who actually qualified for the hospitals’ own free or discounted care programs. 

READ MORE
Posted on

Patients who needed financial assistance said nonprofit hospital in Massachusetts didn’t help them

There are 55 nonprofit hospitals in Massachusetts. Those hospitals receive tax benefits totaling more than $1.9 billion a year. In exchange for the tax breaks, the hospitals are required to provide financial assistance to patients who need it and give free care to the poor. But, some patients said they are in debt because they didn’t get the help they were entitled to…  

UMass Memorial Health Care is responsible to tell patients about the availability of financial assistance because it is a nonprofit, and gets nearly $152 million in tax exemptions per year, according to the Loan Institute. 

READ MORE
Posted on

Bryan Head, Executive Director

Bryan Head, Executive DIrector

Bryan Head has worked with a variety of organizations on matters including community and stakeholder engagement, strategic planning, communication and fundraising.  He also has experience consulting on policy issues including healthcare, education, regulatory reform, and land-use matters. 

Bryan Head, Executive DIrectorWith over 15 years experience working in the financial services, technology, education and public policy sectors, Head has developed the unique ability to engage diverse populations and interest groups. He has worked with Fortune 500 companies, governmental entities and non-profits to solve complex problems.

In 2013, Head co-founded the Westminster Chamber of Commerce, which has grown to become one of the largest and most active chambers of commerce in Colorado. He currently serves as a strategic advisor to the chamber, and previously served two terms as Chairman of the Board. During his tenure with the Chamber, the organization has been recognized nationally for innovation, membership engagement and advocacy.  Head has represented the Westminster business community on policy matters at the city, state and federal levels. 

Head currently serves as President of Woodrow Wilson Academy, a Jefferson County public charter school, and a leader in the school choice movement. During his tenure, the school has been recognized for excellence by a myriad of state and federal leaders, including US Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, and US Senators Michael Bennet and Cory Gardner.  Head has also served in leadership capacities with the Leadership Program of the Rockies, the Jefferson County Outdoor Lab Foundation, the Arvada Rotary Club, the Arvada Rotary Foundation, the Jefferson County Business Education Alliance, and on a number of political campaigns.  As a volunteer coordinator for a winning presidential campaign, Head helped to recruit and organize over 2,000 volunteers across a four-state region.

Most recently, Head was actively involved in community engagement for The Uplands Collective, a nonprofit formed to engage the community around a residential housing development that will have a nearly $2 billion economic impact to the north Denver Metro area.

Head attended Abilene Christian University, where he studied English and Political Science. He lives in Westminster with his three children, Emma, Ashton and Colton, and their dog Daisy. In his spare time he enjoys doing anything outdoors, reading, traveling and going to as many concerts as his schedule allows. 

Posted on

Incoming Administration Has Historic Opportunity to Lower Healthcare Cost and Protect Access

We’re sending this email because you are a leader dedicated to helping financially vulnerable patients access the medical care and prescription medications they need. We at the Consumer Health Advocacy & Information Network (CHAIN) share that mission.

Multiple investigations have documented unprecedented abuse of the Federal 340B prescription discount program (New York Times, JAMA, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, et. al.).

The cost to everyone is great.  But the damage is even greater for the organizations and patients you serve.

Protecting the 340B program means bringing just the most basic transparency to this $66 billion federal program – the second largest prescription drug program in the nation – and stopping the growing 340B abuse that puts community health centers and their patients at risk.  Here’s what stemming the abuse of 340B will mean to you and millions of underserved patients:

  • Billions that are being diverted into profits at hospitals, pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) and national pharmacy chains would be put back into funding for the community health centers that are the intended providers of 340B care.
     
  • Desperately needed transparency would finally come to a system that has been operating in total “darkness” – so key stakeholders can determine how much charitable care 340B hospitals truly provide – and take the needed steps to ensure underserved patients get the care they need.
  • The growing exodus of pharmacies from underserved areas (creating “pharmacy deserts”) would start to be reversed by ensuring only contract pharmacies that serve 340B qualified patients can participate in the program.
  • 340B reforms would help shine a light on (and possibly stem the abusive practice of) hospitals gobbling up 340B qualified clinics – only to see them siphon off profits, strip care or close the clinics altogether.

CHAIN is engaging with leaders like you to create a movement to protect the 340B program. The first step is creating awareness around the abuse, so that health care leaders coming into office can take the steps needed to reverse the 340B abuse and protect everyone involved in care for the underserved.

Colorado Politics published my opinion piece on Wednesday, Nov 27, 2024.  Read the full letter here:  https://www.coloradopolitics.com/opinion/end-abuse-of-340b-give-consumers-break-with-rx-costs-podium/article_7153c392-ac6a-11ef-96df-8b897500e082.html

If you would like to stay informed and updated on the rapidly changing 340B landscape, please click here:
https://consumerhealthadvocates.net/

We’ll be sending more information in the coming days and weeks. In the meantime, if you’d like to have a personal conversation about this issue, or simply just need further background, please reach out through Joni@ConsumerHealthAdvocates.net.

 
Joni Inman
Executive Director
Consumer Health Advocacy & Information Network

Posted on

New name – broader mission

The Colorado Health Advocacy and Information Network, founded in 2019, is expanding. We’ve been very successful in Colorado, positively impacting healthcare policies and now we’re broadening our focus to the entire southwest region. 

We’ve changed our name to the “Consumer” Health Advocacy and Information Network.  We’re still CHAIN, with a focus on all consumers in Arizona, Nevada, Utah and Colorado.

We still have the same great mission – to take on the status quo, challenge the thinking that only government-based solutions can solve healthcare problems; and to champion the best, bold, creative solutions to fixing this Country’s growing healthcare challenges, focusing only on the consumer.

Email us at http://info@consumerhealthadvocates.net and find us on Socials by clicking the icons below.

Facebook X-twitter
Posted on

Dedicated to keeping healthcare costs down for consumers

In the midst of all the political chaos, most people aren’t paying much attention to what’s happening at the federal level to try to keep healthcare costs down for consumers. . . But we are.

This one’s top on our list. In 1992 Congress passed an act creating what is known as the 340B Drug Pricing Program. It was a good move. The program was designed to help vulnerable patients access medications that they might not otherwise be able to afford, by forcing drug manufacturers to provide steep discounts on outpatient medications to what is called “safety net” clinics and hospitals.  It’s still in effect today, with 57 percent of all hospitals, and 46 percent of contract pharmacies in the U.S. participating in the program, including in Colorado, Nevada, Utah and Arizona.
 
The expectation was that savings would be used to ensure vulnerable patients have access to their medications. Not surprisingly, it would appear that the cost savings are now primarily being diverted to middlemen, known as Pharmacy Benefit Managers, to boost their bottom line.
 
According to research by the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturer’s Association, the top performing 340B hospitals nationwide collected nearly $10 in total profit for every $1 they invested in charity care.
 
Fortunately, this misdirection of funds has been discovered and Congress is once again looking at how to tighten regulations around the program so that, instead of benefiting an industry, it stays true to its intent, to help less affluent Americans, be able to afford their life-saving medications.
 
CHAIN is monitoring the legislation. Stay tuned. We may need your help in lobbying Congress in the near future.

Posted on

Outstanding Women in STEM Group Award

2024 Awards Recipients

CHAIN is pleased to have, once again, been part of this year's National Civics Bee

Congratulations to Danielle Williams for winning the Outstanding Women in STEM Award, sponsored by CHAIN, at Colorado Women’s Day. Danielle was recognized for her ingenuity in reinventing a tent that can be set up in less than 90 seconds!

CHAIN ED Joni Inman and Presenter, Cheryl Blum Garcia, LegalShield

And to the Colorado BioScience Association for winning the first-ever Outstanding Women in STEM Group Award, sponsored by CHAIN, at Colorado Women’s Day. What an amazing group of women!

2024 Awards Recipients
Posted on

2024 National Civics Bee

2024 National Civics Bee

CHAIN is pleased to have, once again, been part of this year’s National Civics Bee, during its first round of competition with the Arvada Chamber of Commerce. Local middle school students competed in a live quiz event, April 13, to test their civics knowledge. The finalists received various prizes, and the first-place student received a check for $500. These kids are amazing!