Lehigh Valley Hospital Hazleton – Luzerne County – Tobacco Settlement Payment Data for Year 2026

The Lehigh Valley Hospital Hazleton is involved in the Tobacco Settlement Program, which disburses payments to hospitals for uncompensated care services. The facility may qualify for payments based on extraordinary expense claims or uncompensated care scores, using various data elements. An audit was performed to verify claims and inpatient days eligibility for the 2026 payment. It found six extraordinary expense claims, with four qualifying under the program criteria. Accurate reporting of inpatient days was confirmed, except for some out-of-state days due to reporting errors. The facility’s eligibility for payments will depend on adjusted claims data in the PHC4 database. The facility was reminded to submit additional claims exceeding specific thresholds by October 31, 2025, but did not do so. DHS will prepare a final report to determine subsidy entitlements, allowing eligible facilities to choose their preferred calculation method. This is an automated summary. Please rely on the contents included in the released audit report.