Dameron Hospital offers FREE care (Charity Care) and DISCOUNTED care to patients who qualify. You may qualify for a discount if your family income is at or below 400% of the federal poverty level, and for free care if your family income is below 150% of the federal poverty level. Your savings and assets are not considered. You can apply at any time; there is no deadline.
How to Apply
Ask for a free application at any registration desk, the Emergency Department, the Admissions Office, or the Billing Office.
For information about discount payment and charity care policies, or for help applying, contact the Patient Accounting Department:
Phone: (209) 461-3147
Hours: Monday–Friday, 7:00 a.m.–3:30 p.m.
Address: 525 West Acacia Street, Stockton, CA 95203
If you lack or have inadequate insurance and meet certain low- and moderate-income requirements, you may qualify for charity care or discounted payment.
Charity care and discounted payment programs
Dameron Hospital recognizes that many of the patients it serves may be unable to access quality health care services without financial assistance. The Charity Care and Discounted Payment Policy was developed to ensure that the hospital continues to uphold its mission of providing quality health care to the community while carefully taking into consideration the ability of the patient to pay.
General eligibility
Consistent with the Hospital’s mission as a nonprofit public benefit organization to operate and furnish care, treatment, hospitalization and other services, with or without compensation, the Hospital will, pursuant to this Policy, provide financial assistance to Financially Qualified Patients.
The Hospital shall determine eligibility for the Charity Care Program or Discounted Payment Program based upon an individual’s financial need in accordance with this Policy. Patients seeking Charity Care or Discounted Payment must make reasonable efforts to provide the Hospital with documentation of income and health benefits coverage. If a patient fails to provide the information specified in this Policy and the accompanying application form, the Hospital may consider such failure in making its determination; however, the Hospital shall not deny eligibility for failure to provide documentation other than recent pay stubs or recent income tax returns, and shall not deny eligibility based on the timing of a patient’s application.
Before a patient can be eligible for the Charity Care Program or the Discounted Payment Program, all available resources must first be applied, including, but not limited to, private health insurance (including coverage offered through Covered California, the California Health Benefit Exchange), Medicare, Medi-Cal, the California Children’s Services Program, or other state- or county-funded programs designed to provide health coverage. The Hospital shall not require a patient to apply for Medicare, Medi-Cal, or other coverage before the patient is screened for, or provided, Discounted Payment. The Hospital may require patients to participate in screening for Medi-Cal eligibility.
Patients who are eligible for and/or receive financial assistance under the Charity Care Program or the Discounted Payment Program may not receive financial assistance pursuant to the Hospital’s Uninsured Patient Discount Policy (No. 20-01-0036).
Financial assistance under this Policy shall be provided to eligible patients without regard to race, religion, color, creed, age, gender, sexual orientation, national origin or immigration status.
Eligible services
Financial assistance provided to Hospital patients pursuant to this Policy shall apply to charges incurred for Emergency Medical Care and all other Medically Necessary Services. If it is unclear whether a particular service is Emergency Medical Care or another Medically Necessary Service, the Chief Medical Officer or his/her designee shall determine whether services rendered to the patient were Medically Necessary Services.
Emergency physicians who provide emergency medical services in a hospital that provides emergency care are required by law to provide discounts to uninsured patients and Patients with High Medical Costs who are at or below 400 percent of the Federal Poverty Level. Patients should contact the emergency physician’s billing office for further information regarding financial assistance programs for emergency physician services.
Emergency medical care and other medically necessary services provided by professionals or physicians, other than the hospital facility itself, are not covered by the hospital’s financial assistance policies. Professional or physician services include:
- Ambulance services.
- Audiology.
- Anesthesiology.
- Cardiology.
- Dentistry.
- Dermatology.
- Dialysis.
- Emergency physicians.
- Endocrinology.
- Gastroenterology.
- Gynecology.
- Hospitalists.
- Internal medicine.
- Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
- Neonatology.
- Nephrology.
- Neurology.
- Nuclear medicine.
- Obstetrics.
- Otolaryngology (ENT).
- Ophthalmology.
- Pathology.
- Physician assistants.
- Podiatry.
- Psychiatric services.
- Radiation therapy.
- Radiology.
- Respiratory c are.
- Surgeons.
- Urology.
Application process
The Statement of Financial Conditions must be filled out in its entirety. To be considered for charity care or discounted payment under the policy, the patient must provide the hospital with the financial and other information requested on the application needed to determine eligibility, which will be considered in accordance with the limitations set forth in the California Health and Safety Code Section 127405(e). This includes completing the required application forms and cooperating fully with the information gathering and assessment processes. If the hospital determines the patient is eligible for the Charity Care Program, it may require waivers or releases from the patient or the patient’s family authorizing the hospital to obtain verifying information from financial or commercial institutions, or other entities that hold or maintain the monetary assets. If the hospital determines the patient is eligible for financial assistance under the Discounted Payment Program, documentation of income will be limited to recent pay stubs and income tax returns.
A patient’s failure to mail or otherwise deliver to the hospital a complete Financial Assistance Application within 30 days of the final billing statement, which shall be sent at least 90 days from the date of the first post-discharge billing statement, shall result in the hospital beginning collections actions as described in the hospital’s Collection of Past Due Accounts Policy. Please return this application within 30 days, along with the following documents which support the data you entered on the application:
- Proof of identity—provide one of the following:
- Copy of state issued driver’s license.
- Copy of Social Security card.
- Copy of photo ID.
- Previous year’s federal and state income taxes, including schedules as applicable. If not available please explain why and attach copies of two most recent pay stubs.
- All savings and checking account(s) statements.
- Rent receipts (if applicable).
- Alimony (if applicable).
Mail completed application and required documentation to:
Dameron Hospital Association
Patient Accounting Department
525 W. Acacia St.
Stockton, CA 95203
Uninsured patient discount
Dameron Hospital offers patients without insurance a discount on hospital charges. The uninsured patient discount is a write-off of a portion of the hospital’s usual and customary billed charges and is taken at the time of billing. The discount rate will be reflected on your billing statement.
HOSPITAL BILL COMPLAINT PROGRAM
The Hospital Bill Complaint Program is a state program, which reviews hospital decisions about whether you qualify for help paying your hospital bill. If you believe you were wrongly denied financial assistance, you may file a complaint with the State of California’s Hospital Bill Complaint Program. Go to HospitalBillComplaintProgram.hcai.ca.gov for more information and to file a complaint.
For information regarding poverty thresholds, visit the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services website.
An emergency physician who provides emergency medical services in a hospital that provides emergency care is also required by law to provide discounts to uninsured patients or patients with high medical costs. Please contact the emergency physicians’ billing office directly for further information regarding their financial assistance programs.
Contact us
Please contact the Dameron Hospital Patient Accounting Department at 209.461.3147 from 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. if you would like more information or assistance in applying for any of these programs.
