Apparently, bad debt has more or less stabilized in Tennessee hospitals this year. Hospitals are getting better at managing the process, but higher premiums, more high-premium plans counterbalance that.

Some useful stats:
- Community Health Sys: 10% bad debt
- HCA 8.9% (after providing more aggressive discounts to underinsured)
- Industry as a whole: 10.1%

Still, some hospitals continue to blame bad debt for their financial woes, like this one in Indiana. This hospital has simply doubled its aid program, effecting taking $ from the bad debt bucket to the charity care bucket. These 2 hospitals in Idaho are increasing their educational outreach towards self-pay patients, especially the federal CHIP program for kids.