Did you know there are communities where for-profit hospitals provide more charity care than #nonprofit #hospitals and government hospitals in the same market?
Health Affairs published an article by Ge Bai, Elizabeth Plummer, and Gerard F. Anderson on how to make hospital Community Benefit reporting more transparent. The problem they’re trying to solve is how to encourage hospitals to increase their Community Benefits provided (primarily Financial Assistance to low-income patients). Hospital Compare exists so patients can look into hospital #value, #quality, and #cost. The authors of this article suggest that Hospital Compare would also be a great place to include hospital Community Benefits data as well.
Three approaches were offered:
1 – Disclose Charity-Care-to-Expense Ratio on Hospital Compare site.
2 – Disclose Charity-Care-To-Expense Ratio And Benchmark Against The Weighted Average Ratio For For-Profit Hospitals In The Community.
3 – Disclose Charity-Care-To-Tax-Benefit Ratio.
