The median proportion of operating expenses hospitals dedicate to charity care is 1.4 percent, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation analysis.
The report, published Nov. 3, analyzed cost report data from 4,279 hospitals.The proportion of operating expenses spent on charity care varied widely. Of the hospitals analyzed, 8 percent spent less than 0.1 of their operating expenses on charity care. On the other end of the spectrum, 9 percent of hospitals spent more than 7 percent of their operating expenses on charity care.
The variation in these rates is due to a number of factors, the report's authors wrote, including hospitals' mission and business practices, the demand for charity care among patient populations and local regulations.
Read the full report here.