The following communication was sent to North Carolina’s state representatives this afternoon:

While health care boosts the physical and economic health of our state, many North Carolinians cannot afford the health care they need. That is why every hospital affiliated with the UNC Health Care System offers care to every single patient that enters our doors, regardless of their ability to pay.

In total, UNC provides approximately $2 billion yearly in direct patient care. A growing portion of that care – more than 15 percent – is uncompensated care.

Uncompensated care is part of our public responsibility and our state-mandated mission to provide care for North Carolinians. As health-care costs have grown, so has hospitals’ responsibility to offer care to patients who need it, regardless of their ability to pay.

The UNC Health Care System was created to serve North Carolina’s health care needs. Today, we employ more than 12,000 people and treat patients from all 100 counties. Our work through the Area Health Education Centers helps bring care to rural and underserved areas, and our partnerships with other providers increase access to care for patients all across our state.

Over the past four years, UNC’s uncompensated care has grown by approximately 14 percent each year. The UNC Health Care System, including Rex, provides more than $300 million in uncompensated care – more than any other health system in the state. At Rex, inpatient Medicaid and uninsured cases have doubled in recent years.

What started 60 years ago as one hospital and a medical school is now an integrated and collaborative health system of physicians, hospitals, nurses, researchers, teachers and students. UNC Health Care is recognized as a national a leader in teaching, research and state-of-the-art care, but our most important work is offering excellent care to all our patients.

In recent months, the UNC Health Care System, including Rex Healthcare, has received criticism about the amount uncompensated care we provide in Wake County. (Uncompensated care is the cost of care for which we are not paid). We are proud of our commitment to treat every patient who enters our doors, regardless of their ability to pay – so we’d like to address this criticism head on.

UNC Health Care System providers delivered more than $300 million in uncompensated care last year. Much of that care was delivered to patients in Wake County. We don’t just deliver care to Wake County patients at UNC Hospitals in Chapel Hill, Rex Healthcare in Raleigh, or our affiliated physician practice groups throughout the Triangle. The UNC School of Medicine also employs more than 30 faculty members and 55 residents who practice full time at WakeMed.

Those UNC School of Medicine residents and faculty provide much of the uncompensated care that is delivered at WakeMed – particularly in OB/GYN. By our calculations, the value we provide to WakeMed well exceeds $20 million annually.

The UNC Health Care System provides uncompensated care to patients from across the state. Our most recent data shows that our care is almost double what is provided by WakeMed. We are proud of our role as the state’s health system and will continue to provide our excellent standard of care to any North Carolinian who needs our services, regardless of their ability to pay.