Muddy picture of hospital billing

CAMBRIDGE HEALTH Alliance was one of many stakeholders consulted for the inspector general's study of the uncompensated care pool. Yet only two hospitals were named in your article ("Hospitals probed on free-care billing," Page A1, Feb. 11), so readers might conclude all issues the story cited related only to the two of us. This is not true.

We do acknowledge past billing errors related to prescription drugs for uninsured patients. What didn't get mentioned is that those errors have been corrected and steps were taken to immediately self-disclose to the responsible state agency so any necessary refunds could be made.

Focusing on charges for a few services doesn't tell the whole story. Hospitals are reimbursed on an aggregate basis for free care, not for departmental charges. We have one of the lowest overall charge mark-ups among Massachusetts hospitals. We strongly disagree that we have excessively billed for free care, as borne out by our financial results. We suffered a $21 million loss during the first period examined and barely broke even the following two fiscal years.

We do agree that government financing for indigent care is badly broken and needs repair. Cambridge Health Alliance -- the state's last public safety net provider for the poor, working poor, and severely indigent -- is, and will continue to be, a prudent steward of the funds we have received from multiple government sources.

DENNIS D. KEEFE
Chief executive
Cambridge Health Alliance