Report: Safety-net hospitals straying from core mission to remain afloat

A new report from the Center for Studying Health System Change finds that safty-net hospitals are moving from their primary mission of caring for the poor and uninsured in order to remain financially viable (Source: “Safety-net changes highlight a shift away from hospitals' mission,” Cleveland.com, Aug. 12, 2008).

Peter J. Cunningham, lead author of the study, which was published in Health Affairs, said in some cases profit margins for charity hospitals are just 1 to 2 percent, compared to 7 to 8 percent for other hospitals. Those slim profits have led many safety-net hospitals to promote specialty coverage to attract more paying patients or expand services in more profitable areas of coverage, the study found.

Another strategy is to limit care for uninsured people out of their areas, a move that was made just  this week by MetroHealth in Cleveland, which decided to block free care for patients who live outside Cuyahoga County (Source: “MetroHealth tightens policy against free care for out-of-county patients,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, Aug. 11, 2008).