San Diego’s Sharp HealthCare has seen a $4.7 million increase in cash flow from self-pay uninsured patients at its four busy ERs over the past year because of taking action and advantage of a partnership with the non-profit Foundation for Health Coverage Education (FHCE).

In its efforts to reduce the numbers of uninsured, the FHCE offers a simple online eligibility system that determines uninsured patients’ eligibility for public and private health coverage and hospital charity care programs through five basic questions at point-of-care. In 2010, Sharp embedded this online Eligibility Quiz into its patient admission process, and the result has been a dramatic reversal in Sharp’s rising uncompensated care numbers.

A resultant study, published in Health Affairs, summarized that 80 percent of the uninsured patients who entered Sharp’s ERs were qualified, but not signed up for, public health coverage programs. The point-of-care eligibility approach has demonstrated Sharp’s ability to strengthen the patient advocate role of hospitals while improving cost efficiencies.

For more information about FHCE’s eligibility program, go to www.CoverageForAll.org or contact FHCE President, Ankeny Minoux, at (650) 762-1928.