Billing & Financial Services

Pay My Bill

Houston Healthcare has partnered with Patientco to provide you with a simple method to pay and manage all of your healthcare expenses in one, convenient place. To opt-in for paperless billing and access affordable, self-service payment options, create a free PatientWallet® account by clicking on the link above and follow the instructions.

Houston Healthcare's Patient Financial Services office is located at 233 North Houston Road in the Roy H. "Sonny" Watson Health Pavilion, Entrance E4. Our office may be reached by calling (888) 263-9025. We are pleased to be your provider of choice and hope you will find the following information helpful.

Insurance and Billing

Houston Healthcare accepts all types of health insurance. The Patient Financial Services Office will bill your insurance carrier for you. The hospital will also file multiple insurances for you if you have more than one policy. All payments by debit or credit card can be made over the phone. If you have any questions about your insurance or any statement you’ve received, please contact the Business Office at (888) 263-9025. The office is open from 8:30 am until 5 pm, Monday through Friday.

Medicare & Medicaid

If you are admitted under the Medicare plan, you must be responsible for the deductible, co-insurance, and non-covered items. If you are admitted under the Medicaid/Georgia Better Healthcare plan, you must present a valid Medicaid card. Houston Healthcare also participates in the PeachState, Amerigroup, and Caresource health plans.

TRICARE

Houston Healthcare participates in TRICARE - Active Duty (Resource Management), TRICARE Prime and TRICARE Standard.

Indigent and Charity Care

We serve our patients with dignity, respect, and compassion, no matter their financial situation. We assist patients who cannot pay for their care to qualifying patients. Because we understand not all patients are able to pay their hospital bills due to financial hardship, Houston Healthcare provides free care and discounted services.

As further described below, our financial assistance policy:

• Includes eligibility criteria for financial assistance
• Describes the basis for calculating amounts charged to patients eligible for financial assistance under this policy
• Limits the amounts that Houston Healthcare will charge for emergency or other medically necessary care provided to individuals qualified for financial assistance to no more than the lowest amounts generally billed (received) by Houston Healthcare
• Describes the method by which patients may apply for financial assistance
• Describes how Houston Healthcare will widely publicize the Policy within the community served by each hospital facility
• Describes the Houston Healthcare collection Policy

Houston Healthcare remains committed to serving the emergency needs of all patients, regardless of their ability to pay.

Financial Assistance Forms:

• Financial Assistance Instructions & Application - English (PDF) (updated 02/14/24)
• Financial Assistance Instructions & Application - Spanish (PDF) (updated 02/14/24)
• Financial Assistance Plain Language Summary - English (PDF) (updated 01/04/23)
• Financial Assistance Plain Language Summary - Spanish (PDF) (updated 01/04/23)
• Financial Assistance/Collection Practices Policy (PDF) (updated 4/18/2024)
• Financial Assistance/Collection Practices Policy - Spanish (PDF) (updated 4/18/2024)

Price Transparency

The “Hospital Price Transparency Final Rule” requires hospitals to establish, update, and make public a list of their standard charges for items and services they provide. CMS interprets “items and services” provided by the hospital to include all items and services that could be provided by a hospital to a patient in connection with an inpatient admission or outpatient department visit, including all individual items and services and all “service packages” for which the hospital has established a standard charge.

• Hospital is defined as “an institution in a State in which State or applicable local law provides for the licensing of hospitals, that is licensed as a hospital pursuant to such law, or is approved, by the agency of such State or locality responsible for licensing hospitals, as meeting the standards established for such licensing.”
• Items and Services include each item or service appearing on the hospital’s charge description master (“chargemaster”) and services performed by non-physician practitioners.
• Standard Charges are defined by CMS to mean “gross charges” and “payer-specific negotiated rates.”
  • Gross charges – The charge for an individual item or service that is reflected on Hospital’s chargemaster. This rate does not include any discounts.
  • Payer-specific negotiated rates – The charge that Hospital has negotiated with a third-party payer for an item or service. This rate does not include the amount ultimately paid by the insurer or patient for an item or service, just the negotiated base rate. Additionally, this rate does not include non-negotiated payment rates, such as those for fee-for-service Medicare and Medicaid. Charges negotiated by third-party payer managed care plans (i.e., Medicare and Medicaid managed care plans, etc.) are required and included in these negotiated rates.
  • Discounted cash price – This rate is the discounted rate Hospital charges individuals who pay cash, or the cash equivalent, for an individual item or service or service package. The published rate is unrelated to any charity care, financial assistance, or bill forgiveness that Hospital may apply to a particular individual’s bill as part of its documented financial assistance program.
  • De-identified minimum and maximum negotiated rate – These charges are the lowest and highest charges a hospital has negotiated with all third-party payers for an item or service. The lowest and highest de-identified negotiated rate is published for each item or service the hospital provides.

Disclaimer(s)

1. Fees and/or costs provided via this tool are only estimates and your final bill may be higher or lower than the estimate for various reasons including but not limited to differences in the number of comorbid conditions among patients having the same or similar primary procedures, differences in physician ordering practices, unforeseen complications, etc.
2. This is not a guarantee of benefit plan coverage or payment and the actual payer and patient portion reflected in your final bill may also be higher or lower.
3. The shopping service/pricing estimator and/or machine-readable file DOES NOT include other services billed for separately by independent contractors including but not limited to physician or practitioner fees including but not limited to pathologist, radiologist, anesthesiologist, emergency room physicians, etc.
4. A single line-item charge may not represent a complete medical service; in general, multiple charge line items are necessary to represent all components of a service (e.g. procedure(s), supplies, and drugs).

• Standard Charges - Shopping Services / Pricing Estimator
• Pricing Transparency – Houston Healthcare – Perry(CSV Format)
• Pricing Transparency – Houston Healthcare – Warner Robins(CSV Format)

Final Billing

Once you have been discharged from the hospital, you will receive the final bill for your hospital stay. This statement will reflect any outstanding balance on your account. Upon request, we can provide an itemized statement for your convenience.

Your hospital bill does not include professional fees from your personal physician, ER physician, and surgeon. Depending on your services and procedures during your stay, you may also receive a separate bill from the anesthesiologist, pathologist, or radiologist. All of these physicians are independent contractors, and you will receive a separate bill from them for their services.