At a time when many states plan to cut Medicaid funding, the chief source of revenue for these hospitals, the survey also found that:
1. Safety-net health systems have been treating 23 percent more uninsured patients than before the recession started.
2. Some of these systems have been incurring more than $16 million in additional costs since the recession began.
3. Nearly half of the services safety-net health systems provide are for low-income patients, while 27 percent of services are for Medicaid patients and 19 percent for the uninsured.
4. While public hospitals represent just 2 percent of hospitals in the country, they provide 19 percent of all hospital-based uncompensated care.
5. More than 80 percent of the recent increase in patient volume at safety-net health systems comes from additional uninsured or Medicaid patients.
6. Public hospitals report a 10 percent increase in uncompensated care costs, compared with before the recession.
Read the National Association of Public Hospitals and Health Systems’ release on safety-net hospitals.
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