Thursday, March 28, 2024

Cascade Medical Provides Healthcare for Low Income Individuals

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For many, the cost of healthcare is difficult to deal with. When people are uninsured or underinsured, the cost of healthcare is even more of a burden. Cascade Medical Center has programs in place to help cover the cost of care for those who are uninsured or are underinsured, said Richard Vazquez, financial counselor at Cascade Medical Center. 
 
Vazquez is the financial counselor at Cascade Medical Center. He explains to patients their medical bills. He helps patients understand why they are being charged, what they are being charged for, and what part of the cost insurance covers. He also helps patients to make payment plans and navigate applying for insurance.  
 
Some families can’t afford to pay their premium because they have a really high deductible, Vazquez said.  Patients qualify for financial assistance on a sliding scale. Patients who make too much to qualify for financial assistance can make a payment plan to deal with their bills. 
 
Insurance plans also determine where patients can seek care. By state law, Vazquez said, if patients go to the emergency room they can’t be denied care from the hospital. For non-urgent care, certain insurance covers certain facilities. Sometimes, insurance plans cover facilities other than Cascade Medical and those patients cannot go to Cascade Medical.
 
When that happens, Vazquez said, it is recommended to patients that they go to the emergency room since they cannot be turned away, or that they call their primary care provider to be seen. 
 
According to the Cascade Medical website, financial assistance is provided to patients on a sliding scale and covers 25% to 100% of the costs. Patients can apply to receive financial assistance by submitting an application and providing supporting documentation when at the hospital, by phone, or they can receive the documents by mail. 
 
Clint Strand, Director of Public Relations at Cascade Medical, said the most important thing is that patients receive care. 
 
“The last thing that we want is for finances to be a barrier for care. We're very aware of the fact that for many people, that is perceived to be a barrier,” he said. 
 
One way that Cascade Medical is trying to reach out to people who need financial assistance is the acquisition of a mobile clinic. Strand said that out of the community health needs assessment it was discovered that one barrier to care in the community was that people couldn’t come to the clinic because of transportation and logistical issues. 
 
The mobile clinic will provide basic health services to underserved areas like Lake Wenatchee and Plain as well as working with the Cascade School District, Strand said. Funding for the mobile clinic came from large grants and community donations. The hospital has planned for the continuing costs of the vehicle through their regular funding pool.
 
The Cascade Medical Foundation is a valuable service to the community. Marlene Farrell, Coordinator at the Cascade Medical Foundation, said that the foundation helps the hospital to be as high quality as it can be. The foundation helped with capital improvements that the hospital couldn’t pay for by themselves.
 
Besides capital improvement, Farrell said, the project has provided mammography, a CT Scanner, ambulance safety equipment and helps with programs like suicide prevention programs at the school. The Cascade Medical Foundation is funded by direct donations, grants and fundraising events. 
 
Another barrier to care can be a language barrier. English is not the first language of everyone in the community. Vazquez said that Cascade Medical has nurses who are bilingual and that he can help patients apply for medical insurance because he is bilingual. Additionally, the hospital has a dial up phone which is used for translation.
 
Farrell said that Cascade Medical Foundation newsletters are in Spanish and that they are looking to broaden the diversity of the board. Many on the board are retirees because of the time commitment but they are looking for young people, business owners and others to join the board. 
 
But once you receive care, it can be very difficult to determine how much it will cost. Hospital price transparency was established under section 2718(e) of the Public Health Service Act and requires hospitals to provide a list of standard charges of medical services to the public, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. 
 
This act requires hospitals to list standard charges of medical services to the public through both a machine readable file like Excel and through a plain language description of shoppable services. The lists must be updated annually. 
 
Strand said that the standard list of pricing on Cascade Medical is very useful because it considers different insurance policies and insurance rates and calculates a rough estimate of how much the patient is responsible for. It is hard to give a standard menu of prices because everyone has different insurance, so the online tool gives prices more accurately based on individual circumstances. 
 
Something that many who have concerns over medical costs may not be aware of is Apple Health, Strand said. Apple Health is Medicaid coverage in Washington. Another option for receiving care at a reduced cost is the weekly free clinic, which is administered through Upper Valley Mend. 
 
The staff at the free clinic volunteer to give medical care while Upper Valley Mend provides the logistics for the clinic. The clinic helps people to receive needed care when they can’t afford it. During the clinic, navigators like Vazquez are on hand to help people understand what health benefits they are eligible for.  
 
When the state expanded Medicaid, there was a moderate increase in the amount of patients who used Medicaid to access care at Cascade Medical, said Diane Blake, CEO of Cascade Medical. During that time, the number of patients who visited the UV Mend Free Clinic reduced. 
 
But that doesn’t mean that all of the financial assistance programs at Cascade Medical are not needed in the community. Programs that assist patients with the cost of medical care are still critical because access to health care in the community isn't perfect yet, said Blake. 
 

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