Hospital credit scores

Essay by roz1234University, Bachelor'sA+, February 2013

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Module 6 Essay - Hospital Credit Scores

Credit scoring is widely used in consumer markets as a predictor of an individual's credit worthiness or compliance. There is good reason to believe that a person will not permit his credit and his credit rating to be damaged by failing to pay a particular bill.

Many hospitals are now accessing your credit score before services are rendered. Hospitals have to service many people without the possibility of being paid. Some people that need services are just unable to pay. Health care expenditures in a hospital setting can be substantial and can force a patient to declare bankruptcy. Unlike other creditors, a hospital by necessity provides services on credit with payment expected following service delivery from either insurance or some other third party and often some portion from the patient.

I do believe that hospitals should not have to provide free care to someone who has money in the bank or 401K plans.

Allowing them to check your credit could deter people that could afford to pay to actually pay for services that are being rendered to them. A person should know that you are accessing their private information before it's done. There is no way you should access it without their knowledge. I agree that it would be ok to access a person's credit in a hospital setting. There should be certain criteria that the hospitals should be made to follow. It is as follows: The person should always give the hospital permission, the patients should be able to see their own scores, and their scores should not be used as the sole criteria to make the decisions in getting care.

Hospitals should take into consideration that not all scores are correct. A person who pays and has the capacity to pay...