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Past Screenings
May 30, 2010 - Colorado Public Television, KBDI Denver
April 22, 2010 - WTTW Chicago
April 16, 2010 - Pittsburgh, WQED
February 21-28, 2010 - Sedona Film Festival
February 17, 2010 - Maryland Public Television.
February 8, 2010 - Los Angeles, secondary market
February 8, 12, 13 and 15 2010 - Showing on KVCRDT2 and KVCRDT3.
February 8, 2010 - Los Angeles, secondary market. KVCR.
February 4, 2010 - West Virginia. WVPBS-2.
January 31, 2010 - Detroit, MI. WTVS.
January 26, 2010 - East Lansing, MI. WKAR. Repeating on their WORLD channel, January 28, 2010.
January 26, 2010 - New Orleans. WLAEDT3.
January 26, 2010 - Louisiana State Network. LPBDT2.
January 22, 2010 - South Carolina State Network.
January 21, 2010 - Appleton, MN. KWCMDT4.
January 19 and 20, 2010 - Portales NM, also serves part of Albuquerque. KENW 3.1. Also on their 3.3 digital.
January 18, 2010 - San Francisco. KQED.
January 9, 2010 - Evanston Neighbors for Peace
November 19, 2009 - Argusfest, Denver, CO, in collaboration with Moveon.org
November 18, 2009 - Reeltime Evanston, IL Film Festival
October 22, 2009 - Loyola Law School, Beazeley Center for Health Law
October 16, 2009 - Chicago Filmmakers
October 14, 2009 - Atlanta, Georgia, also co-sponsored by Georgia Watch
October 13, 2009 - Albany Georgia, co-sponsored by Georgia Watch, the state′s leading consumer advocate organization
October 1, 2009 - Training for Southern Advocates, Atlanta, Georgia
July 2009 - Kutztown Democrats Screening
June 26, 2009 - National Health Care for the Homeless Conference and Policy Symposium, co-sponsored by American Patients United and California Nurses Association
June 23, 2009 - Wilmette, IL Public Library Screening
May 31, 2009 - Massachusetts Teach-In on Health Care Reform
May 21, 2009 - Kickoff of the National Outreach Campaign at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, where the film was introduced by IL Attorney General Lisa Madigan. To watch a video of her remarks, click here.
May 16, 2009 - Little Rock Film Festival, Clinton School of Public Service Special Screening
May 15, 2009 - Little Rock Film Festival, Nominated for Best Documentary
We would love to screen
Do No Harm in your area. If you′re interested in hosting or
co-hosting a screening, please e-mail us.
- Ohio Independent Film Festival: Monday, June 14th, 7PM at the Beachland Ballroom, Cleveland. A panel discussion featuring experts in the field and the director will follow the screening.
- The FLICKERS: Rhode Island International Film Festival: Providence, August 10th-15th.
- Grand Rapids Film Festival, August 26th-28th
- The Central Florida Film Festival: Ocoee, Florida, September 3rd-6th.
- Rome (Georgia) International Film Festival, Friday, September 10th, 7PM
- Napa Sonoma Wine Country Film Festival, September 15th - 26th
- Eugene International Film Festival, October 7th-10th
- BendFilm, October 7th-10th
- Tacoma Film Festival, October 7th-14th
- Philadelphia Film Festival, October 14th-24th
- Flint Film Festival, October 15th-16th
- Santa Fe Independent Film Festival, October 19th - 24th
- The Southern Circuit Tour Of Independent Filmmakers: February 15-22, 2011. This is the only regional tour of independent filmmakers in the country. Our Southern Circuit Tour will include 5 venues and communities throughout the Southeastern U.S.:
Carson-Newman College, Jefferson City, TN
Madison-Morgan Cultural Center, Madison, GA
The Arts Council, Inc., Gainesville, GA
B.B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive Center, Indianola, MS
Coastal Carolina University, Conway, SC
Coming soon.
What does non-profit hospital status mean?
A non-profit hospital is one that is organized as a non-profit charitable corporation, and as a result, is typically exempt from paying local property taxes, as well as state and federal sales and employment taxes. In other words, non-profit charitable status usually also means tax-exempt status.
When non-profit providers are exempt from property taxes, it means that local community members are shouldering the tax burden for that institution. The institution still needs water, sewage, roads and stoplights, and it still benefits from police and fire protection, as well as other community services that are funded through property taxes. These community and public services are financed by community members who pay local property and sales taxes.
In exchange for shouldering the costs of the nonprofit health care providers′ tax exemptions, communities expect health care providers to use their resources - their special skills, knowledge and institutional and financial resources - to directly benefit the community in the ways that the community determines to be most effective and necessary.
What you should know:
- Is your local hospital non-profit?
- If yes, do you know what is expected in return for this tax-exempt status?
- Does your local hospital publicizes its charity care policy?
- Where can you find information on the community benefits provided by your local hospital?
- Does your local hospital offer payment plans to patients struggling to pay their hospital bills?
- Does your state legislature or attorney general oversee or monitor hospital billing and collection practices?
Take action:
- Use the Do No Harm website to learn more about how consumer and health advocacy organizations are using the film and for a list of organizations helping to disseminate the film and encourage its use in health reform discussions.
- Contact your local health care advocacy organization to get involved.
- Organize a screening of this film and a follow-up discussion.
- Contact your local hospitals to find out if they are non-profit or for-profit
- For non-profit hospitals:
- Get copies of their charity care policies and an application
- Find our whether they send bills to collection agencies and report to the credit bureaus
- Ask for information on CEO and other executives′ compensation
- Ask for a list of members of the board of trustees
- Write letters to the editor of your local newspaper if your questions go unanswered, or if you have concerns
Do No Harm
Discussion Guide for Screenings
Discussion Openers:
Which of the people in the film did you relate to the most? Why?
What was the most memorable moment in the film for you? Why?
Think of someone in your life who has owed money to a hospital that they couldn′t pay. What hardships did the person face? What were the collection practices of that hospital? Were they ever offered financial assistance or "charity care?"
What was your impression of the media′s treatment of the whistle blowers and of the hospital?
In your opinion, what did the hospital do wrong? What did they do right?
Before seeing this film, did you know that non-profit hospitals are exempt from paying taxes? Did you realize that not all hospitals enjoy this exemption?
Do you believe that non-profit hospitals have special responsibilities to the communities they serve in exchange for not paying taxes?
Hospital Accountability:
Should non-profit hospitals be held to a higher standard in terms of executive compensation and their billing and collection practices than other for-profit health care providers?
What do you think are the obligations of non-profit hospitals to "do no harm" to the community? After seeing this film, do you feel that there are ways that non-profit hospitals can cause harm?
What responsibilities do non-profit hospitals have to the communities they serve in exchange for not paying taxes?
What are some ways that the community can be organized to hold non-profit tax-exempt hospitals accountable?
Do you know whether your local hospital(s) is non-profit and tax-exempt?
Do you know the level of executive compensation at your local non-profit hospital and, if so, do you think it is reasonable?
Do you know whether your local non-profit hospital refers accounts to collection or patients who have not paid their bills and, if so, do you think this is reasonable?
Do you know whether your local non-profit hospital sues patients who have not paid their bills and, if so, do you think this is reasonable?
Do you know if they offer "charity care" or financial assistance? If you don′t know, how can you find out? (Hint: you should be able to call and ask, or go to the hospital′s website, or pick up a pamphlet in the lobby, patient registration, billing office, or emergency department).
Is the "charity care" or financial assistance program easy to understand, easy to access, and easy to qualify for?
What do you think are fair debt collection practices by non-profit hospitals? Do you think non-profit hospitals have an obligation to make reasonable payment agreements with patients, and avoid suing their patients? Do you know whether your local hospitals sue patients who owe medical debt to them?
What hospital policies and practices do you think should be transparent to the community?
Do you think it′s reasonable for executives of non-profit hospitals to receive very high compensations, similar to those in the for-profit health care sector? Why or why not?
Besides doing no harm, and having good financial assistance programs and fair debt and collections practices, what are some "community benefits" that local communities should be able to expect from their local hospitals?
Health Care Access:
What role do hospitals′ financial assistance, billing, and debt collection practices play in access to health care for low-income or uninsured individuals?
The hospital featured in Do No Harm was suing many of their patients. Do you think it′s appropriate for a non-profit tax-exempt hospital to sue its patients? Do you know whether your local hospitals sue their patients? If so, under what conditions?
Do you think that suing a low-income patient is a violation of "do not harm? "Why or why not? What do you think happens to patients who have been sued by a hospital? Do you think they are likely to go back to the hospital when they need to?
What should non-profit tax-exempt hospitals be doing in their communities in order to assure affordable and timely access to needed health care?
Health Care Reform:
In the context of the national healthcare reform debate, do you think there is a need to regulate hospitals′ billing and collection practices? What about their executive compensation?
Should non-profit hospitals be required to publicize their charity care and financial assistance policies?
If national health reform passes and our nation has few uninsured patients, do you believe that hospitals should continue to receive preferential tax treatment?
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