On Jan. 16, the University of North Carolina Health System’s board approved a number of changes to the system’s billing and collection practices, which will be implemented immediately. The actions were in response to community concerns expressed last summer. The changes include offering interest-free payment plans to patients for an extended period of time, limiting use of the state attorney general’s office to resolution only of commercial payment disputes, reviewing accounts with past-due amounts of greater than $15,000 to identify opportunities to assist with payments, requesting that the state exempt the health system from a law requiring state employees to pay debts to state institutions or face possible dismissal, and making plans for a federally funded community center to help increase primary care availability to the uninsured.
“The changes we are implementing must accomplish the overriding goal of extending the system’s mission,” said the board in a report announcing the new initiatives. “In order to serve our more than 400,000 patients a year, we are committed to fulfill our mission of meeting the health care needs of North Carolinians. We intend to remain diligent about improving our health care system.”
