title: Health reform holds both risks and rewards for safety-net providers and racially and ethnically diverse patients.
abstract: The Affordable Care Act of 2010 creates both opportunities and risks for safety-net providers in caring for low-income, diverse patients. New funding for health centers; support for coordinated, patient-centered care; and expansion of the primary care workforce are some of the opportunities that potentially strengthen the safety net. However, declining payments to safety-net hospitals, existing financial hardships, and shifts in the health care marketplace may intensify competition, thwart the ability to innovate, and endanger the financial viability of safety-net providers. Support of state and local governments, as well as philanthropies, will be crucial to helping safety-net providers transition to the new health care environment and to preventing the unintended erosion of the safety net for racially and ethnically diverse populations.
authors: Texas Health Institute, TX, USA. dandrulis@texashealthinstitute.org
authors: Dennis P
authors: DP
authors: Andrulis
authors: Nadia J
authors: NJ
authors: Siddiqui
mesh_terms: D003151:Community Health Centers; D003153:Community Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005380:Financing, Government; D018166:Health Care Reform; D054625:Healthcare Disparities / Q000208:ethnology*; D006801:Humans; D019458:Insurance Coverage; D007348:Insurance, Health; D017057:Medically Uninsured / Q000208:ethnology; D058991:Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act; D061214:Patient Safety; D011203:Poverty; D012201:Reward; D012306:Risk; D014481:United States