Wyoming Physicians Are Significant Providers of Safety Net Care

Article Figures & Data

Download figure
Open in new tab
Figure 1.
Perceived Relative Contribution of Charity Care by Income of Physician.
Download figure
Open in new tab
Figure 2.
The Relationship between Recent Changes in the Respondent Physicians’ Clinical Income and Changes in the Amount of Charity Care Provided.

Table 1.

Characteristics of Wyoming Physician Respondents by Income

	Annual Income ≥$130,000 (%)	Annual Income <$130,000 (%)	Total Number of Respondents (N)
Number	31	47	78
Gender^*
Male	46.8	53.2	62
Female	7.7	92.3	13
Years in practice
0 to 7	38.1	61.9	21
8 to 15	42.9	57.1	21
16 to 25	33.3	66.7	24
>25	55.6	44.4	9
Location of practice^†
Urban	16.7	83.3	18
Rural	46.4	53.6	56
Employer
Solo, Self-Employed	45.2	54.8	31
Private Clinic	26.9	73.1	26
Hospital	66.7	33.3	9
Other	33.3	66.7	9
Practice type
Solo	46.9	53.1	32
Single Specialty Group	42.9	57.1	28
Multi-Specialty Group	16.7	83.3	6
Other	22.2	77.8	9
Hours of direct patient care worked per week^†
5 to 25	22.2	77.8	9
26 to 35	0	100.0	7
>35	46.6	53.4	58
Change in financial net, prior 2 years
Increased	52.4	47.6	21
Unchanged	39.3	60.7	28
Decreased	27.3	72.7	22

Table 2.

Physicians’ Reporting of Proportion of Ambulatory Visits by Payment Types

Payment Type and Proportion of Visits	Physicians
Payment Type and Proportion of Visits	Number	%
Public (Medicare and Medicaid)^* (N = 66)
≤30%	35	53.0
>30%	31	47.0
Sliding scale (N = 64)
None	38	59.4
<10%	15	23.4
≥10%	11	17.2
Free care (N = 63)
None	16	25.4
<10%	44	69.8
≥10%	3	4.8
Debt forgiveness (N = 64)
None	15	23.4
<10%	45	70.3
≥10%	4	6.3
Bad debt (N = 63)
None	7	11.1
<10%	37	58.7
≥10%	19	30.2

Table 3.

Distribution of Physicians by Proportion of Visits That Were Nonpaying* and by Physician Characteristics

Physician Characteristics	10% or Greater of Visits by Nonpaying Patients	Less than 10% of Visits by Nonpaying Patients
Number	34	33
Gender	N = 34	N = 32
Male (%)	82.4	84.4
Female (%)	17.6	15.6
Location of practice	N = 33	N = 33
Urban	18.2	27.3
Rural	81.8	72.0
Income per year	N = 33	N = 31
<$130,000	69.7	48.4
≥$130,000	30.3	51.6
Perception of distribution of charity care in the community^†	N = 33	N = 31
Even	33.3	12.9
Uneven	67.7	87.1
Perception of personal share of charity care in the community	N = 33	N = 32
Greater than others	60.6	59.4
Less than or equal to others	39.4	40.6

Table 4.

Costs to Physicians Participating in the Safety Net

	Physicians
	Number	%
Gross billings not billed^* (N = 46)
≤$1,000	6	13.0
$1,001 to $10,000	26	56.6
$10,001 to $50,000	14	30.4
Gross billings, billed not received, and forgiven debt (N = 41)
≤$1,000	10	24.4
$1,001 to $10,000	19	46.3
$10,001 to $50,000	12	29.3
Gross billings, billed and not collected^† (N = 45)
≤$1,000	3	6.5
$1,001 to $10,000	10	21.8
$10,001 to $50,000	20	43.4
>$50,000	12	28.3
Percentage of billed that was collected (N = 60)
40% to 60%	7	11.7
61% to 89%	37	51.6
≥90%	16	26.7