One Brooklyn Health: Three Hospitals, One Financial Assistance Policy

One system, three names

One Brooklyn Health is made up of Brookdale Hospital Medical Center, Interfaith Medical Center and Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Center, together with their affiliated facilities.

That structure creates a specific and avoidable mess. Somebody treated at Brookdale and later at Kingsbrook receives paperwork under two hospital names, assumes two separate problems, and either applies twice or gives up.

The instruction that saves the most work:

“These are both One Brooklyn Health accounts. Please apply my financial assistance application to every account under my name across the system, and tell me which account numbers are included.”

Get the list of account numbers in writing. That list is what prevents one forgotten balance from turning up at a collection agency a year later.

Where to start

The system’s financial assistance page carries the program information and the application route.

Brookdale’s financial counselor office is a place you can go in person, which matters more than it sounds: a counselor working through the form with you resolves in twenty minutes what three phone calls does not. The hospital publishes 718-240-5240 for its financial counselor, and the office at 1 Brookdale Plaza, Brooklyn, NY 11212, on the fourth floor of the Snapper Building.

The uniform application is the form to ask for by name, because every hospital licensed in New York must accept it. Why that matters.

The floor that applies regardless

• At or below 200% of the federal poverty level: nothing out of pocket for medically necessary care
• 201% to 300%: no more than 10% of the Medicaid rate; 301% to 400%: no more than 20%
• No asset test, immigration status may not be considered, written decision in 30 days, no lawsuit below 400%, payment plans capped at 5% of monthly income and 2% interest, 180 days before collections
• Applications accepted at any stage, including after collections

A policy document that stops at 300% predates the October 20, 2024 amendment. Cite the law, ask for the policy in writing, and escalate to the Attorney General’s Health Care Bureau Helpline at 800-428-9071 if needed.

Before the number

A self-pay balance usually means nobody checked whether a program applied on the date of service. Ask first:

“Was I screened for coverage for the date of service, and was I screened for Emergency Medicaid?”

In these neighborhoods that question lands more often than anywhere else in the city, because the community health center layer is strong and the coverage layer is under-enrolled. Coverage you may not have applied for · Getting care in East New York.