Los Angeles County will soon require hospitals within the city’s jurisdiction to report standardized data on financial assistance and debt collection practices, as part of an effort to reduce health-related debt for residents in the region.
The Los Angeles City Council unanimously approved an ordinance Wednesday, authorizing the county’s Department of Public Health to enforce the law.
Under the ordinance, Public Health will collect standardized data from the 34 acute care hospitals in the city, which county officials say will improve financial assistance programs and identify gaps where eligible patients may not be receiving help.
“Medical debt is crushing working-class families across Los Angeles, and we cannot fix what we…