About CharityCareCheck

Hospital charity care isn't charity in the everyday sense — for nonprofit hospitals, it's a legal requirement tied to their tax-exempt status. But the policies are scattered across thousands of individual hospital websites, written in regulatory language, and rarely surfaced at the moment a patient is staring at a bill. CharityCareCheck exists to close that gap: a plain-language explanation of how the system works, state-by-state context, and a free calculator to help you get an early estimate before you contact a hospital directly.

1. Start from primary sources

   We base every claim on the underlying law or regulation itself — IRS Section 501(r) guidance, HHS poverty guidelines, and individual state statutes — rather than secondhand summaries.

2. Cross-check against real hospital policies

   Where it helps illustrate a typical range, we reference published, publicly posted hospital Financial Assistance Policies, always labeled as examples rather than universal rules.

3. Rewrite in plain language

   We translate regulatory text into language a patient under financial stress can actually use, without losing the legal substance.

4. Review before publishing

   Pages are checked against the cited sources before they go live, with links to those sources included on the page itself so you can verify anything yourself.

5. Re-review on a schedule

   Income thresholds, state laws, and federal guidance change — most recently the 2025 update to California's threshold and the 2026 federal poverty guidelines. Every page shows a "last reviewed" date in its footer.

6. Correct mistakes quickly

   If you spot something inaccurate or out of date, tell us — see the contact section below. We review and correct genuine errors promptly.

CharityCareCheck is supported by display advertising, including ads served through programs like Google AdSense. A few things we want to be upfront about:

• Ad placements are clearly marked and never disguised as editorial content.
• We don't accept payment from hospitals, law firms, or debt-relief companies in exchange for favorable coverage or placement in our guides.
• Our calculator doesn't sell your responses as sales leads to hospitals or financial-assistance vendors.
• Advertising vendors may use cookies to personalize the ads you see — details are in our Privacy Policy.

Spotted an outdated figure, a broken source link, or something that doesn't match your hospital's actual policy? We'd genuinely like to know. Reach us at hello@charitycarecheck.com.