ST. PAUL — The state Department of Public Health says Minnesota hospitals saw a roughly 22 percent drop last year in care they provide without expecting payment.

The department said in a news release Tuesday that the drop in charity care was the second such decline since 2001.

Uncompensated care, which includes charity care, fell 6.3 percent overall last year. The other component of uncompensated care is bad debt, which are payments hospitals expect but don’t get. Bad debt rose 9.3 percent to $174.2 million in 2014.

The department says the overall decline in uncompensated care came as Minnesota implemented many of the most significant coverage parts of the Affordable Care Act, including MNsure.