Uncompensated care before and after prospective payment: the role of hospital location and ownership.
Research was undertaken to determine the effects of hospital ownership, location, and Medicare's prospective payment system (PPS) on inpatient uncompensated care. A nonequivalent group design was used with repeated measures of uncompensated care (UNCC) on 137 system hospitals taken pre- and post-PPS. Investor-owned system hospitals demonstrated the largest increase in UNCC (37 percent) under the PPS. Results suggest that not-for-profit and investor-owned system hospitals are becoming more similar in levels of uncompensated care provided and that the PPS has had a negative effect on rural hospital profitability.
Hultman
C I
CI
Department of Veterans Affairs, Hines VA Hospital, IL 60141.
D000704:Analysis of Variance; D002391:Catchment Area, Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006302:Health Services Research; D006777:Hospitals, Proprietary / Q000191:economics; D006788:Hospitals, Voluntary / Q000191:economics; D006801:Humans; D007182:Income / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008489:Medical Indigency / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006278:Medicare; D009096:Multi-Institutional Systems / Q000191:economics* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010067:Ownership / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011445:Prospective Payment System; D014481:United States