At Northeast Georgia Health System, we believe that no one should delay seeking medical care because they lack insurance or have high medical costs. That’s why we assist patients with applying for public health coverage programs and offer discounts, payment plans or free care to eligible uninsured or underinsured patients for medically necessary care.
- Patient has received emergency care
- Patient has received or is scheduled for medically necessary care and resides in the Northeast Georgia Health System service area (defined below):
- Emergency care means if services are not received, the patient’s health will be placed in serious jeopardy, the patient might experience serious impairment to bodily functions or serious dysfunction to a bodily organ. With respect to a pregnant woman who is having contractions, there is inadequate time for safe transfer to another hospital before delivery or the transfer may pose a threat or safety of the woman or her unborn child.
- Medically necessary care means care which is appropriate and consistent with the diagnosis and if not received could adversely affect or fail to improve the patient’s condition. It is care that is not cosmetic, experimental or deemed to be non-reimbursable by traditional insurance carriers and governmental payers. It is care that is deemed medically necessary by an examining physician’s determination.
- Patient’s gross family income is between 0 and 300% of the Federal Poverty Guidelines, adjusted for family size
The NGHS Financial Assistance program determines income eligibility based on the FPL (Federal Poverty Level).
FPL Definition: A measure of income issued every year by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Federal poverty levels are used to determine your eligibility for certain government programs and benefits. Learn more about the FPL.
NGHS uses these same levels for our internal Financial Assistance program. Compare your FPL to the income chart.
- For NGHS Financial Assistance program up to 150% of the FPL is a full approval;
Note: does not apply to insured patients for physician balances at NGPG, Georgia Heart Institute, or Physician Services Agreement (PSA) - From 151%- 300% of the FPL is a partial or sliding scale approval;
Note: does not apply to insured patients for physician balances at NGPG, Georgia Heart Institute, or Physician Services Agreement (PSA).
If you are approved for partial Financial Assistance, your balance reduction is based on the rate that the Medicare program would reimburse for the service for hospital balances. This program has no connection to Medicare, we are just using the data associated with their payment rates as they are the most common payer source. If you are uninsured then physician balances are reduced by a sliding scale percentage.
Note: These reductions only apply after any third-party responsibility.
For hospital balances:
- If your FPL is 151%-185% your reduction would be down to the Medicare rate of 19.21% (we reduce your balance to 19.21% of patient responsibility) then we further discount your balance by 40%.
- If your FPL is 186%-235% your reduction would be down to the Medicare rate of 19.21% (we reduce your balance to 19.21% of patient responsibility) then we further discount your balance by 20%.
- If your FPL is 236%-300% your reduction would be down to the Medicare rate of 19.21% (we reduce your balance to 19.21% of patient responsibility).
For physician balances:
- If you are insured, there is no Financial Assistance approval for physician balances
- If you are uninsured and your FPL is 151%-185% then your balance would be reduced by 72%
- If you are uninsured and your FPL is 186%-235% then your balance would be reduced by 44%
- If you are uninsured and your FPL is 236%-300% then your balance would be reduced by 33.5%
The following zip codes are recognized as residing within the Northeast Georgia Health System service area:
30011, 30017, 30019, 30024, 30028, 30040, 30041, 30043, 30045, 30046, 30052, 30501, 30502, 30503, 30504, 30506, 30507, 30510, 30511, 30512, 30514, 30515, 30517, 30518, 30519, 30523, 30525, 30527, 30528, 30529, 30530, 30531, 30533, 30534, 30535, 30537, 30538, 30542, 30543, 30544, 30545, 30546, 30547, 30548, 30549, 30552, 30554, 30557, 30558, 30562, 30563, 30564, 30565, 30566, 30567, 30568, 30571, 30572, 30573, 30575, 30576, 30577, 30580, 30581, 30582, 30596, 30597, 30598, 30599, 30620, 30622, 30655, 30656, 30666, 30680
Downloadable forms and resources are located at the bottom of this page.
The Financial Assistance application, policy, and Plain Language Summary may be found below in the related documents section. Printed copies of these documents may also be obtained, at no charge, by calling the Financial Navigation Department at 770-219-1898 or sending a message to the Financial Assistance message pool within MyChart. You may also contact the Financial Navigation Department at this number or through MyChart for any assistance needed in completing the application or for any questions you may have.
Have questions? Please call 770-219-1898 during normal business hours to chat with our team.