North Carolina Hospital Association

Open enrollment in North Carolina's federally facilitated Health Insurance Marketplace, www.healthcare.gov, has started and runs through March 31, 2014. Go to https://www.healthcare.gov/find-premium-estimates/ to get a preview of plan information in your area. If you need assistance to figure out your options and enroll in a health plan, please call 1-855-733-3711. At this statewide, toll-free number, you can set up an appointment with a health care navigator at a time and place convenient to you. 

NCHA has developed a resource page for hospitals to learn more about the Federal Marketplace as it develops in North Carolina.

Join NCHA April 25-27 at the Francis Marion Hotel in Charleston, SC as hospital trustees, CEOs and senior leaders gather for the annual Trustee Institute. The Institute is a resource for hospital board members to expand their leadership roles, learn from industry experts about best practices, and share experiences addressing current healthcare challenges. Trustee Institute attracts 150-200 attendees and incorporates valuable networking opportunities throughout the program.

The pre-conference session is titled, The Roles and Responsibilities of Hospital Governance in Advancing Patient and Family Engagement. A new feature this year is a lunch and workshop for board chairs titled Leading Excellence in Uncertain Times: The Board Chair's Role in Implementing Effective Governance. Other topics on the program include:

• Fraud and Abuse Cases
• Executive Compensation
• Advocacy in an Evolving World
• The Trustees' Role in Hospitals, Systems and Accountable Organizations
• and more

Register now or download the brochure

Are you planning for an upcoming inpatient or outpatient procedure at your local community hospital? This site allows health care consumers access to basic information about common services and charges at North Carolina's hospitals. Link here to find your hospital charges by facility for the Top 35 procedures. Please note that a hospital "charge" is not the same as "expected payment." A charge is the amount billed for a service. In the vast majority of cases, hospitals are paid considerably less than the billed amount. Each person's case is different based on that patient's medical condition, so a patient's charge may not necessarily be the same as the average or median charge. Furthermore, the actual amount paid by a patient will depend on that patient's insurance coverage.

Are you uninsured? This site also pairs hospitals’ community benefit reports with their financial assistance policies. See your hospital's 2012 community benefit report and link to its financial assistance policy here.