Playbook Offers Hospitals and Clinicians Practical Ways to Address Medical Debt

Addressing Medical Debt: A Playbook for Hospitals and Clinicians

This playbook outlines practical strategies for hospitals and clinicians to help prevent and reduce medical debt, drawing on research, expert interviews, and real-world examples.

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Medical debt can create lasting financial strain for patients and families. Hospitals and clinicians have opportunities to help prevent debt and reduce its burden.

Developed by AcademyHealth with support from the ABIM Foundation, this playbook translates research and expert insights into practical approaches for addressing medical debt. It is designed to help hospitals and clinicians identify opportunities to strengthen existing practices and better support patients.

What the Playbook Offers

The playbook presents three ”plays” for addressing medical debt, alongside four real-world case examples. It highlights ways hospitals and clinicians can incorporate financial considerations into patient care and organizational practices.

Who Should Use This Playbook?

This resource is intended for hospital and health system leaders, clinicians, and others working to improve patients’ financial experiences of care.
Hospitals can use the playbook to assess current practices, identify opportunities for improvement, and inform organizational efforts to prevent or reduce medical debt. Clinicians can use it to better understand their potential role in addressing patients’ financial concerns and explore approaches relevant to their clinical settings.

The strategies and examples can serve as a starting point for discussion, adaptation, and action.

Explore the Playbook and Accompanying Resources

Explore the full playbook or access individual sections below. Additional resources include one-pagers tailored to hospital and clinical audiences and a toolkit to support broader dissemination.

Full Playbook
Read the complete playbook, including recommendations for hospitals and clinicians, case examples, and references.

Hospital One-Pager
Explore key takeaways and practical approaches for hospitals.

Clinician One-Pager
Explore key takeaways and practical approaches for clinicians.

Public Toolkit
Access resources to help share the playbook and recommendations.

Playbook Sections:

• Introduction
• What Can Hospitals Do?
• What Can Clinicians Do?
• Conclusion
• Appendix:
  • Case Example 1: A Hospital Perspective (Parkland Health)
  • Case Example 2: A Community-Based Organization Perspective (DuPage Health Coalition)
  • Case Example 3: A National Nonprofit Perspective (Undue Medical Debt)
  • Case Example 4: A Clinician Perspective (Caroline Sloan, M.D., M.P.H.)
• References