CashPayMed

Methodology · evidence before interpretation

How the records are built, and what they cannot tell you.

CashPayMed uses public filings and provider records to help readers form questions. The site distinguishes a reported fact from a calculation and a filing organization from an individual hospital facility.

Start with the source object

For an IRS filing, the evidence record should include the EIN, tax period, IRS object ID, archive member, source digest, filing timestamp, and exact XML coordinate. For CMS data and hospital price files, the record should include the provider identifier, source release or file, retrieval date, and source digest.

Keep organizations and facilities separate

One Form 990 or Schedule H may cover a system with several facilities. CashPayMed does not describe an organization-level amount as belonging to a particular building unless a source supports that allocation. Facility-to-filer links require a documented crosswalk.

Where a reported amount lives: with the filing organization, not with a building One filing organization, holding a single EIN and a single Form 990 or Schedule H, sits at the top, and the reported amount is stated at that level. Three facilities sit below it. Two are joined to the filer by connectors marked crosswalk, drawn solid, and each is labelled site amount not reported. The third is joined by a dashed connector marked no crosswalk and is labelled link not established, so no amount is attributed to it. One filing organization one EIN · one Form 990 or Schedule H the amount is reported here crosswalk crosswalk no crosswalk Facilitysite amount not reported Facilitysite amount not reported Facilitylink not established A filing describes the filer. It does not describe a building.
One filing organization can cover several facilities, so a figure taken from its Form 990 describes the filer and not any one building. Where a documented crosswalk exists, CashPayMed links the facility to the filer and says so. Where none exists, the link is not drawn and no amount is attributed.

Keep reported categories separate

Schedule H Part I line 7a reports financial assistance at cost, including free or discounted care under the organization's policy. Bad debt, unreimbursed Medicaid, other community-benefit categories, and total community benefit are separate fields and are not combined without an explicitly documented method.

Label calculations

A percentage, trend, median, or other derived value must show its inputs, formula, reporting unit, time period, and universe. A comparison can prompt inquiry; it cannot by itself establish financial capacity, causation, motive, current policy, or legal compliance.

National summaries are fail-closed

CashPayMed does not publish an exact national benchmark-relative amount unless one immutable package contains every included row, the latest-filing rule, source identifiers and digests, missing-value handling, calculation code, generated results, and an independent reproduction.

Questions, not conclusions

Public records are useful when their scope and limitations stay visible. Readers should confirm current policies and conditions with the hospital and follow the linked source before relying on a figure.

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