Payment Plan Migration to New Online Bill Pay Portal

Attention Patients:

Regional Health Services of Howard County’s new online bill pay portal is now available for patient use. However, due to a new system we will need to work with patients that have a payment plan to get their payment information into the new system.

To comply with security and privacy laws around storage of credit card and bank information, no employee or affiliate of Regional Health Services has access to a patient’s credit card or bank information.  Therefore, we will need to have a direct conversation with patients to gather their credit card or bank information again.

As a result, patients with payment plans will be contacted by phone and asked to provide their credit card or bank information again so it can be loaded in the new system. Please contact our business office at 563-547-6311 to answer questions or get your payment plan set up in the new portal.

Billing Statement Changes (Effective April 2023)

In order to better serve our patients, we have restructured our business office. As a result, you will notice a change in remittance address for payments on your billing statements. The address going forward will be:

—-Dept #8424

—-Regional Health Services of Howard County

—-PO Box 11407

—-Birmingham, AL 35246-8424

Please note these changes are accurate and will assist us to better serve our patients. If you have any billing questions, you can still contact us at 563-547-6311.

Thank you for your cooperation!

Financial Assistance

Any patient may apply to receive financial assistance.  A patient seeking financial assistance must provide supporting documentation specified in the application unless RHSHC indicates otherwise.  The application form may be obtained by telephone at 563-547-6311 or by downloading it here: Financial Assistance Application. If you need the application in another language, please call our Business Office at the number listed above.

Financial Assistance and Billing Practices

Summary of Financial Assistance

Patient Liability Estimator

Price Transparency

RHSHC is committed to working with consumers, payers, and policymakers on developing the best solutions for achieving price transparency goals.  For our patients to understand their potential financial liability for hospital services, we are making our hospital charges available to patients.  Hospital charges vary based on the type of care provided.  The price can differ from patient to patient for the same services.  The price will be different for complications or different treatments for the patient’s personal health condition. Patients also may qualify for financial assistance.

Understanding health care terminology around price poses significant challenges for patients.  If you ask a group of people to define what “price” is, it is likely you will get a variety of answers.  Below are definitions to help frame understanding on this issue:

  • Charge:  The dollar amount assigned to specific medical services before negotiating any discounts from payers.  The charge is different from the price.  Very few patients pay the charge regardless of their insurance status and, therefore, this data is not meaningful to people.
  • Price:  The negotiated and contracted amount to be paid to providers by payers (also called the “allowed amount”).  A patient’s out-of-pocket liability for health care services is based on this allowed amount.  Note that the price for a given service varies by insurance plan, as these are separately negotiated by plan/employer.
  • Out-of-Pocket:  Portion of the price for medical services and treatment for which the patient is responsible.  This includes copayments, coinsurance, and deductibles.
  • Cost:  The definition depends on the cost being referenced:  To the provider, the cost is the expense incurred to provide health care to patients.  To the employer, the cost is the expense related to providing health benefits.  To the insurance plan, the cost is the price paid to the provider.  To the patient, the cost is the out-of-pocket fees.

We support price transparency and believe it is important for you to know what out-of-pocket costs you will incur for services provided at Regional Health Services of Howard County.  We have established two easy ways for you to obtain an estimate of your costs – call or click:

  • Call 563-547-6603, to speak with a financial counselor for a price estimate or to find out if you qualify for financial assistance.  The following will be reviewed:  1) the specific service or procedure you will receive; 2) the physician providing the service; and 3) your insurance, including what you have already paid towards your deductible.
  • Click:  The information contained in this file is being provided in compliance with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) requirement [FY 2019 IPPS/LTCH PPS Final Rule; CMS-1694-F] for hospitals to post a list of their standard charges online in a machine-readable format.  By clicking to download this information you agree you have read and understood the following:
    1. The information contained in the file is current as of the last upload.  Charge information is subject to periodic changes and the file will be updated as soon as practically possible to reflect such changes.
    2. The file contains both the charge amount and the charge description of the item or service as reflected in the hospital’s chargemaster (CDM).
    3. A charge represents the dollar amount assigned to specific medical services before the application of any negotiated discounts to third-party payers.  The actual hospital charges will vary based on the type of care provided, treatments, individual health conditions, and other factors.  If you need an exact estimate of your out-of-pocket cost, please call us at the above number. RHSHC has contracted to provide physician services for surgery, radiology, pathology, and other services. You will be billed separately for these professional services.
    4. Hospital Standard Charges: Following the CMS guidelines, the information in this file represents the hospital’s current standard charges as reflected in the CDM.  However, it is important to understand that the information represented in the CDM is the starting point in many cases and can undergo additional adjustments through the billing process, therefore, please be aware:
      1. The charge shown is the original charge for the item or service prior to any adjustments that result from applying modifiers in certain situations.
      2. The CDM is used in multiple hospital departments and may have different charges for the same item or service and such instances will repeat in the file.  For a single chargemaster item, the charge is consistent; however, there may be slight variation in charges for services with similar descriptions for various reasons.
      3. Charges for certain items or services are based on per unit, such as – including but not limited to – surgeries, anesthesia, and recovery, which can be based on the unit of time and complexity; medications, drugs which can be based on weight-based dosage, age or packaging, etc.
      4. CMS Required Shoppable Services: This is a list of 70 services that CMS requires we offer estimates of the full cost of services billed from our facility.  Similar to standard charges, these charges do not include charges performed by outside entities that are billed separately. Additional Shoppable Services: This is a list of our highest volume services that we bill directly to patients and also does not include charges performed by outside entities that are billed separately.
    5. These price lists are only estimates and are not intended to be the final charges for any services received at RHSHC. Your individual bills will vary from these amounts based on several factors including but not limited to:  additional testing deemed necessary by your provider, unplanned complications, and length of time for your service.
    6. Following CMS Guidelines we are providing the following pricing. By clicking to download this information you agree you have read and understood the above:
      1. Hospital’s Current Standard Charge: Click here to download
      2. Required CMS Shoppable Service: Click here to download
      3. Additional Shoppable Services: Click here to download

For the convenience of our patients, RHSHC has installed a secured drive-up dropbox for those who would prefer to drop off their bill payment.  It is located near the main entrance (east side) of the hospital.

Financial Responsibility and Your Medical Bill

For questions or inquires about your bill, please call the following:
  • Hospital or Clinic services: 563-547-6311
  • Home Medical Equipment (HME): 563-547-5573
  • Home Health and Hospice services: 563-547-2989

Itemized statements will be furnished upon request.

Regional Health offers Online Bill Pay at the following link:

Customer Satisfaction

Thank you for choosing Regional Health Services of Howard County for your health care needs.  We value your relationship with us, and will make every attempt to honor that relationship, by providing the quality medical care you require and deserve.

RHSHC appreciates that you have entrusted us to provide your healthcare.  To continue bringing you great healthcare services, we have two partnerships that support our business office:

Account Management Solutions (AMS) has over 25 years of experience providing billing and payment monitoring services to healthcare organizations.  Our partnership with AMS is an extension of our business office.  They support our business office staff in processing billing and payments for patient accounts that are more than 90 days old.  AMS is not a debt collector, they are providing RHSHC with an efficient option to process billing and payments for our older accounts.

If your account is serviced by AMS you will receive statements and phone calls directly from them on behalf of RHSHC.  The purpose of the phone calls is to make payment arrangements on old balances. Statements will include both RHSHC’s logo and AMS’ logo. Click Here to view a sample statement. You can pay AMS directly for the accounts that they are processing by using the following link and the instructions on your statement from AMS:  www.amspays.com.

Quad Corporation is a collection agency.  We use Quad Corp when all other efforts to reach payment arrangements within our guidelines have not resulted in an acceptable agreement.  You can pay Quad Corp directly for the accounts that they are managing by using the following link:  https://payqc.virtualcollector.net/