Most patients come to the hospital with some form of insurance coverage. Regardless of the type of insurance coverage you have, you are ultimately responsible for payment of your medical bills. Although we will bill on your behalf and make all reasonable efforts to obtain payment from your insurance, if your insurance company rejects the claim or delays payment, we will look to you for payment in full. Insurance companies sometimes require additional information before claim processing can be completed. Your prompt response to these requests for information will speed up processing and potentially reduce the amount you owe.

Once insurance has paid on your account, you will receive a statement from us indicating the balance you owe if it was not paid at the time of service. This balance is due and payable by you when you receive your statement. You may pay your account by cash, check, credit card, or by automatic withdrawal from your checking account.

Ringgold County Hospital recognizes that health problems are often unexpected – so, healthcare costs are often unplanned for or may be greater than expected. To find out what financial assistance may be available to you, speak with a Ringgold County Hospital patient accounts representative by calling (641) 464-4459 during the hospital’s regular administrative hours (Monday – Friday, 8 am – 4:30 pm) or send an e-mail to medicalbills@rchmtayr.org.

Should an overpayment on your account occur, we will investigate the nature of the overpayment and make a refund to the appropriate party. If the refund is to go to you, we will apply it to any other account balances you may have outstanding and will then refund to you any remaining balance.

We try to make sure we receive authorization for your services at Ringgold County Hospital, but every insurance company has its own prior authorization requirements. We encourage you to check with your insurance company or your employer to verify this information.

Insurance companies have multiple plan options, which makes it difficult for us to know all that is covered by the plan. Contact your insurance company or your employer with specific questions about what is or is not covered by your insurance plan.

Yes. Your insurance card is needed when you register to ensure we get the correct information to file a claim with your insurance company. Make sure you bring all relevant insurance information, especially if you have more than one insurance plan. If we do not have the correct insurance information, we cannot bill your insurance company on your behalf, and it will become your responsibility to do so.

You may receive more than one bill for the same hospital stay. These bills are usually for services provided by physicians, anesthesiologists, or other professional medical groups. Although Ringgold County Hospital bills for some of these same services, you may receive a separate bill directly from other providers.

Hospital charge data is being provided as part of a federal regulatory policy mandated by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

Some important items to note:

• Hospital charge data is not representative of a patient’s expected out-of-pocked costs. Because each patient’s case is different based on specific conditions, the actual amount owed by a patient will depend on that patient’s insurance coverage.
• Hospital charge data is the amount a hospital bills an insurer for a service. In the vast majority of cases, however, hospitals are reimbursed by insurance companies and Medicare/Medicaid at a rate that is considerably less than the amount charged.
• Patients should talk with their insurance provider to understand which costs will be covered, and which costs will be the patient’s responsibility.