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SALT LAKE CITY — With donations flat, costs rising and an endowment shrunk somewhat by the recession, Shriners Hospitals for Children now takes third-party payments after 85 years with no billing department at all.
But the charitable mission is unchanged and patients without insurance will continue to be served at no cost. And there are no plans to bill those with insurance for co-payments and deductibles.
It's a way of reaching more patients who could benefit from the specialty hospital's pediatric orthopedic care, said Salt Lake director of patient care services Kevin Martin.
"We are still providing care regardless of a patient's ability to pay. We're still the same Shriners Hospital we've always been, but we are trying to take the opprtunity to look at third-party reimbursement as a way to help us continue to do what we've done since 1922, when Shriners opened that first hospital in Shreveport, La."
The Salt Lake hospital opened in 1925.
The change is a national one affecting all 20 Shriners Hospitals for Children, said Michael Babcock, spokesman. The decision was made in July 2009 because costs were increasing, while donations were steady but not growing. As part of a phased-in national move, the Salt Lake hospital began taking insurance Oct. 5.
The move was also driven, said Babcock, by the misconception among the public that Shriners would only care for those who do not have insurance. While historically there's been no billing department, the hospital has always served any child with orthopedic problems regardless of insurance status.
The issue became more urgent, though, because the investments that fund the endowment lost about one-third of their value during the recession, he said.
"A lot of charities and organizations have had to close up shop as a result of the recession. This is an opportunity to strengthen our presence."
Martin said that Shriners has applied for a Medicare and Medicaid waiver so that it will not have to require copayments or deductibles for patients covered by those entities. And it has no plans to ask for those payments from folks with private insurance.
Billing will all be done by Dell Perot Co. from a central office that serves all Shriners Hospitals, the two said.
E-mail: lois@desnews.com
