Southcentral Kentucky hospitals, like others across the state, are providing less charity care and care to the uninsured.

According to a news release from Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky, state hospitals provided 76.9 percent less charity care and other care to uninsured Kentuckians last year than in 2012. The data suggests that hospitals in the commonwealth are receiving health insurance payments for a larger percentage of the care they deliver to lower-income patients who previously were uninsured.

Anna-Lee Cockrill, North Regional Marketing and Public Relations director for TriStar Health, said TriStar Greenview Regional Hospital “continues to grow and expand to meet increased demand for services at our hospital.”

“In 2015, TriStar Greenview spent more than $2.7 million to treat uninsured patients whose incomes fall below the federal poverty level,” she said. “This number includes charity, bad debt and uninsured discounts. These individuals were not billed for the care they received.”

Jim Lee, chief of planning and business development at T.J. Regional Health, said his office does a community needs assessment and community business report that gives details of what projects they are involved in.

“In 2012, charity care patients were 2 1/2 percent of the gross patient revenue,” he said. “In 2015, they were 2 percent of the gross revenue.”

Ron Sowell, executive vice president and chief financial officer for Med Center Health, said Commonwealth Health Corp. hospitals have provided charity care for many years.

“Since the (Medicaid) expansion in January 2014, we’ve seen a significant decrease in the number of patients seeking charity care,” he said. “Our cost was $12.1 million a year that we were providing for patients. Now it’s $2.2 million in costs associated with patients. That’s a significant decrease.”

In addition to charity care, Med Center Health expensed for bad debts a total of $15,842,241 in FY 2016, according to CHC Vice President Doris Thomas.

The expansion of Medicaid is good for the patients who are now covered, Sowell said.

“They are not only able to receive hospital services, but they are able to receive doctors care as well. (Former) Gov. (Steve) Beshear felt that by expanding Medicaid, citizens could receive preventive care,” he said. “We are by many measures one of the sickest states in the country. A lot of that is due to lifestyle. In the past there was an inability to access physicians for minor cases that expanded to larger issues. There is advice from physicians on how to lead a better lifestyle to avoid issues down the road.”

Before the Medicaid expansion in 2014, 607,000 Kentuckians were enrolled in Medicaid. By August 2015, there were 1.14 million enrolled, Sowell said.

“One out of every three Kentuckians enrolled in Medicaid as a result of the expansion program,” he said. “There is no doubt that the expansion has caused the decrease in the number of charity patients, not just in our six hospitals, but in hospitals across the state.”

Commonwealth Health Corp.’s hospitals have been able to use the extra money that was previously spent on charity care for other services, Sowell said.

“Those funds have been used for other equipment and for our continuing increased (need) for operating costs,” he said. “We’ve been able to take these dollars and use them to help other patients.”

Kentucky may lose the Medicaid expansion, Sowell said. Gov. Matt Bevin wants to implement Kentucky HEALTH, which stands for Helping to Engage and Achieve Long Term Health. The plan is designed to help individuals move off Medicaid and into commercial health insurance. Kentucky HEALTH will require monthly premiums.

“Funding for that is going to be a challenge for state government going forward. States are going to have to start paying their cost of Medicaid,” he said. “If the waiver is not approved, Gov. Bevin has said he’s going to eliminate the Medicaid expansion. Everything would revert back to the way it was before.”

— Follow features reporter Alyssa Harvey on Twitter @bgdailynews.com or visit bgdailynews.com.