Unc Charity Care Program: Frequently Asked Questions and Answers

Over 12,000 Johnston County residents and 9,000 Harnett County residents have no health insurance. The goal of Project Access is to provide the opportunity for every Johnston or Harnett County resident to receive access to health care.

Project Access exists to assist communities across the nation with establishing and sustaining coordinated systems of charity care. There are 17 active Project Access programs in North Carolina, each unique to its own community.

Unc Charity Care Program

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Project Access of Johnston County/Harnett County is a physician-led volunteer initiative that gives low-income, uninsured county residents access to comprehensive medical care. Through Project Access, physicians and community partners like UNC Health Johnston or Betsy Johnson Hospital, donate medical services without receiving reimbursement or compensation.

Project Access is not health insurance. It is however, an innovative, voluntary program designed to help community residents stabilize their health in a time of need when health insurance is not available.

Financial Counselors are available in the NC Cancer Hospital to help you with any questions or concerns you have about insurance co-pays and deductibles, and hospital and physician billing. Financial assistance applications are available in both English and Spanish. Contact the program by calling (984) 974-3425 or toll-free at (866) 704-5286, or by email at uncfau@unchealth.unc.edu

The UNC System endorses a cost-effective Student Health Insurance Plan that covers most health care expenses not included in the Campus Health Fee. This plan is called Student Blue and is administered by Blue Cross / Blue Shield of North Carolina.

The financial counselors in Patient Financial Services will assist you in any way possible. Do not hesitate to ask any questions about charges and billing, including questions about Medicare, Medicaid or private insurance. A financial counselor can be reached at 828-698-7306.

As a student parent you have access to the UNC Student Parent Association, which advocates for the unique needs of student parents and serves as a connection to local childcare, parenting, health care and other resources. Additionally, UNC makes available to students a financial assistance program to help with the cost of child care.

UNC Charlotte has been granted $727,808 from the Governors Emergency Education Relief Fund (GEER), which is a program of the Education Stabilization Fund created by the CARES Act and administered by the U.S. Department of Education. The funds will be used entirely for student aid to help current students be able to continue their education.

This direct student aid was provided to undergraduate and graduate students who are N.C. residents, who were currently enrolled in a degree-granting program, who were in good academic standing, and who required financial assistance. As of May 20, 2021, UNC Charlotte has distributed $721,850 in GEER funds to 665 students.

The Emergency Broadband Benefit is an FCC program to help students and households struggling to afford internet service during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Emergency Broadband Benefit will provide a discount of up to $50 per month towards broadband service for eligible households. Eligible households can also receive a one-time discount of up to $100 to purchase a laptop, desktop computer, or tablet from participating providers if they contribute more than $10 and less than $50 toward the purchase price.

About Ronald McDonald House: Cares for families in the life-altering moments, days, and months that children spend in area hospitals. Offering physical comfort and emotional support through programs dedicated to the well-being of the whole family.

There are different ways to get involved as an individual or as a group. Join up as a meal team to provide a home-cooked meal for families, a great tangible way to provide comfort and care. Become a House Volunteer and help with everyday tasks like answering phones, giving tours, preparing bedrooms, or baking sweet treats.

The UNC Psychology and Neuroscience Department Community Clinic, the Clinic, is dedicated to providing high quality and affordable psychological services to the triangle community and the UNC campus through specialty clinics for children, adolescents, adults, couples and families. All of our assessment and treatment services are designed to provide effective psychological care in a compassionate environment to members of the campus and local community. Services are provided by graduate students in our highly ranked clinical psychology doctoral program and on a limited basis by Licensed Psychologists, postdoctoral fellows, and social work graduate students.

The Clinic is a community-based training facility for the Ph.D. program in clinical psychology. The UNC Clinical Psychology program is accredited by the American Psychological Association and the Psychological Clinical Science Accreditation System. For over 15 years, the Clinical Psychology Program has ranked within the top ten graduate psychology programs nationally, currently ranked #2.

UNC Collaborative for Maternal and Infant Health aims to improve the health and well-being of women and families across North Carolina through community partnerships, research and clinical care innovations, and developing new approaches to complex problems.

Revises defined terms applicable to certificates of need laws in Article 9, set forth in GS 131E-176, as follows. Changes the threshold criteria for diagnostic center to include a facility, program, or provider in which the total cost of all medical diagnostic equipment used by the facility which costs more than $10,000 or more exceeds $1.5 million (currently, the cost threshold is set at $500,000). Changes the threshold criteria for major medical equipment to include a unit or system used to provide medical or other health services which costs more than $2 million (currently, the threshold is $750,000). Changes the threshold criteria for new institutional health services to include the obligation of capital expenditures exceeding $4 million (was, $2 million) to develop or expand a health service or facility or relates to the provision of health services. Makes conforming changes to reflect the revised threshold amounts in GS 131E-184. Requires the cost threshold amount for diagnostic center, major medical equipment and new institutional health services to be adjusted annually, beginning September 30, 2022, as specified. Amends bed capacity to specify space used exclusively for inpatient care at a health care facility. Amends the definition of health service to exclude activities performed at a facility that does not meet the definition of a health service facility; removes ambulatory surgical facilities from the definition of health service facility. Removes the conversion of a specialty ambulatory surgical program to a multispecialty program or the addition of a specialty to an existing program from the term new institutional health services (the same provision is deleted again in Section 2(a) of this act, effective 19 months after the act becomes law). Makes conforming and technical changes.

Adds to the requirements for ambulatory surgical facility licensure under GS 131E-147 as follows. Requires all initial application and renewal applications to require statement of the number of procedure rooms on, and the number and type of procedures performed at, the named premises. Bars issuing or renewing a license to operate a facility developed, acquired, or replaced on or after October 1, 2019, unless the application provides (1) a commitment that the Medicare allowable amount for self-pay and Medicaid surgical cases minus all revenue collected from self-pay and Medicaid surgical cases will be the greater of either 4% of the total revenue collected for all surgical cases performed at the facility or the percentage of charity care ambulatory surgery services provided by the affiliated hospital; (2) a commitment to annually report the total number of self-pay, Medicaid, Medicare, commercial insurance, managed care, and other surgical cases to DHHS; and (3) a commitment to report use and payment data for services provided by the facility to the statewide data processor.

Further amends GS 131E-176 to remove "psychiatric facility" and "chemical dependency treatment facility" from the term health care facility. Makes conforming changes to the term health service facility bed. Amends new institutional health services to provide for the new exemption enacted in GS 131E-184(j) for ambulatory surgical facilities that meet specified criteria.

Amends GS 131E-184 regarding the certificate of need review exemption for any conversion of existing acute care beds to psychiatric beds, to eliminate two existing criteria that must be met to qualify for the exemption, including contracting with a division of DHHS and/or specified local authorities and not exceeding a specified limit for the number of beds converted.

The budget eliminated two other DEH programs: the quality assurance program of the on-site water protection section, and the wastewater discharge elimination (WaDE) program. The purpose of the WaDE program was to identify failing septic systems and other on-site wastewater problems. It provided grants or deferred loans to low-income households in need of septic system repairs.

When a program was eliminated, its funding and staff were eliminated as well. When a program was transferred, its staff and funding were transferred along with it, but with some reductions. For example, all state staff positions associated with the local private well program were eliminated as of July 1, except for one that will be eliminated at the end of the 2011-12 fiscal year.

In 2006, the General Assembly enacted a law requiring local health departments to operate programs for the testing, inspection and permitting of private drinking water wells. Each local health department was required to have a program in place and operating by July 1, 2008. During the 2011 session, a bill was introduced that would have repealed the statute that requires the local health department well programs, but the General Assembly did not act on the bill. Therefore, the programs remain in place and subject to the state statutes and rules under which they were created. The state budget eliminated the positions of DEH staff members who provided technical assistance to the local programs, but it did not eliminate the programs themselves. 2ff7e9595c