{"id":815,"date":"2025-11-24T19:24:18","date_gmt":"2025-11-25T03:24:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ephc.org\/blog\/?p=815"},"modified":"2025-11-24T19:24:18","modified_gmt":"2025-11-25T03:24:18","slug":"patient-financial-policy-update","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ephc.org\/blog\/patient-financial-policy-update\/","title":{"rendered":"Patient Financial Policy Update"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Effective January 1, 2026<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>We are implementing a new policy for patients (staff and public) with outstanding medical balances over $1,000. This policy ensures financial accountability while maintaining access to essential care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What You Need to Know<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Before receiving any non-emergency outpatient services, patients with balances greater than $1,000 must complete one of the following:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Pay 50% of the Total Balance \u2013 Make a one-time payment equal to at least half of your outstanding balance.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Make Three Consecutive Monthly Payments \u2013 Patients on a payment plan may qualify by making three on-time monthly payments in a row.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Meet with a Financial Counselor \u2013 Schedule a meeting to establish or revise a payment plan, or apply for Medi-Cal or other financial assistance programs.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Services Deferred Until Compliance<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Non-urgent outpatient services will be deferred until one of the above actions is completed. These include but are not limited to:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Diagnostic imaging<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Laboratory testing<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Physical therapy<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Follow-up specialist visits<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Elective procedures<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Office visits<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Telehealth visitsWe\u2019re Here to Help<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>We understand financial challenges can be difficult. Our financial counselor is available to assist you with payment options and financial aid programs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Contact Information<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Phone: <strong>530-832-6568<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Office Hours: Monday\u2013Thursday, 8:00 AM\u20134:00 PM<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Thank you for your attention to this important update. Please reach out to us if you have any questions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Effective January 1, 2026 We are implementing a new policy for patients (staff and public) with outstanding medical balances over $1,000. This policy ensures financial accountability while maintaining access to essential care. What You Need to Know Before receiving any non-emergency outpatient services, patients with balances greater than $1,000 must complete one of the following: [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-815","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ephc.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/815","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ephc.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ephc.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ephc.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ephc.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=815"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.ephc.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/815\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":816,"href":"https:\/\/www.ephc.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/815\/revisions\/816"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ephc.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=815"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ephc.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=815"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ephc.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=815"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}