Hospital Payment Program and Medical Debt Relief Initiative Approved for Another Year

 

NCDHHS received approval from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to continue the Healthcare Access and Stabilization Program (HASP) which makes hospital incentives for the state’s medical debt relief initiative possible. 

This new approval supports the state’s work to relieve more than $4 billion of medical debt for nearly two million low and middle-income North Carolinians and prevent the accumulation of new debt going forward. 

In its third year, for services provided to Medicaid managed care enrollees from July 2025 to June 2026, the HASP program will include nearly $6.5 billion in gross revenue if all North Carolina hospitals continue to participate in the medical debt relief initiative. Last year, all 99 acute care hospitals in the state signed on to participate.

North Carolina’s program is the first in the nation to leverage Medicaid state-directed payment authority to encourage hospitals to both relieve historical medical debt and adopt forward-looking protections to prevent the accumulation of debt.

Eligible people do not need to take any action to have their medical debt relieved. Hospitals are working with Undue Medical Debt to notify patients directly if they meet the eligibility requirements.

For more information about HASP and North Carolina’s Medical Debt Relief Incentive Program, please see the FAQ and Toolkit for other states interested in implementing similar programs.