Actions Taken by Safety-Net Hospitals To Remain Financially Viable Could Compromise Not-For-Profit Mission, Study Says

Steps taken by safety-net hospitals to attract insured patients to offset the costs of providing no-cost care to the indigent could compromise a hospital's mission, according to a study published online on Tuesday in the journal Health Affairs, the Seattle Times reports. The study was conducted by the Center for Studying Health System Change and funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (Ostrom, Seattle Times, 8/12). Researchers used data from the Community Tracking Study, which tracked health system changes in 12 randomly selected metropolitan areas since 1996 via telephone and on-site interviews with about 500 respondents (Cunningham et al., Health Affairs, 8/12).

In general, safety-net hospitals are not as financially stable as other hospitals, according to the Times. The study noted that maintaining a balance between providing charity care and staying financially secure has always been a challenge for safety-net hospitals and it is "becoming even more so in a marketplace that is becoming more competitive and profit-driven" (Seattle Times, 8/12). In response, many are attempting to attract paying patients by building, renovating and advertising specialty services to insured patients (Reichard, CQ HealthBeat, 8/12).

However, some of the "steps they are taking to maintain their margins can threaten their mission," Peter Cunningham, lead author of the study, said. "Safety-net providers really are caught in the competitive crossfire of an increasingly profit-driven health care marketplace," he said (Seattle Times, 8/12). Larry Gage, president of the National Association of Public Hospitals and Health Systems, said, "No safety-net hospital wants to limit access or ration care, but, faced with a growing demand for uncompensated care and increasingly limited funding options at every level of government, some are left with no choice" (Martinez, "Health Blog," Wall Street Journal, 8/12).

An abstract of the study is available online.