Los Angeles County Releases Landmark Report on Hospital Charity Care and Launches New Tools to Expand Access

to Financial Assistance

The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health today released a report showing how hospitals provide financial assistance to patients and introduced new tools to strengthen charity care practices across the region.

LA County Department of Public Health found that hospitals in Los Angeles County reported $426.5 million of financial assistance in 2023. The four County operated Department of Health Services hospitals, which serve 16% of the Medi-Cal population, accounted for 38% of all financial assistance awarded. County hospitals awarded 4% of their gross patient revenue as financial assistance and nonprofit hospitals and for-profit hospitals awarded 1%. Martin Luther King Jr. Community Hospital, a nonprofit hospital in historically underserved South Los Angeles, awarded 11% of its gross patient revenue as financial assistance, the highest in LA County.

The analysis, based on federal and state data, comes amid the burden of medical debt on more than 880,000 residents—one in nine adults—who carried over $2.9 billion in debt last year. Even insured patients are affected, often facing food insecurity, unstable housing, and delaying care due to unpaid bills. Nationally, only 29% of patients with unaffordable hospital bills are able to learn about, apply for, and receive financial assistance.

To help close this gap, the Los Angeles County Medical Debt Coalition has developed new model documents for hospitals, which will increase awareness and make programs easier to access for patients. The model documents include a simplified application, a clear policy, and a plain language summary. With this effort, Los Angeles County joins a small number of jurisdictions that have modernized financial assistance materials to improve consistency across hospitals.

Los Angeles County continues to engage in legislative advocacy to prevent medical debt, including support for AB 1312, which would expand the use of presumptive eligibility so low-income patients can automatically qualify for charity care based on existing data, even as recent federal Medicaid cuts reduce available resources and may limit the impact of these efforts.

For more information or to access the new tools, visit:

publichealth.lacounty.gov/PreventMedicalDebt

The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health

The Department of Public Health is committed to promoting health equity and ensuring optimal health and well -being for all 10 million residents of Los Angeles County. Through a variety of programs, community partnerships and services, Public Health oversees environmental health, disease control, and community and family health. Nationally accredited by the Public Health Accreditation Board, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health comprises of more than 5,000 employees and has an annual budget of $1.3 billion.

Los Angeles County Department of Public Health works to protect health,
prevent disease, and promote health and well-being.

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