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The Effect of Hospital Ownership Conversions on Nonacute Care Providers
Author(s) -
GUREWICH DEBORAH,
PROTTAS JEFFREY,
LEUTZ WALTER
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
the milbank quarterly
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.563
H-Index - 101
eISSN - 1468-0009
pISSN - 0887-378X
DOI - 10.1046/j.0887-378x.2003.00294.x
Subject(s) - underinsured , fiduciary , business , harm , uncompensated care , profitability index , worry , health care , public economics , finance , medicaid , health insurance , economic growth , economics , medicine , political science , law , duty , anxiety , psychiatry
Since 1985, the proportion of for‐profit community hospitals has hovered around 15 percent (AHA 1988, 2002). Although nonprofit hospital conversions to for‐profit status have yet to significantly alter the overall distribution of investor ownership in the hospital sector, the consequences continue to cause considerable concern (Claxton et al. 1997; Cutler 2000). This is true primarily because investor ownership imposes new fiduciary responsibilities that may undermine a hospital's implicit social contract to meet the needs of the community it serves, regardless of profitability. Given this, many worry that for‐profit health institutions will harm local communities, particularly the availability of services for uninsured and underinsured populations. Thus, much attention has focused on the impact of ownership change on a hospital's provision of uncompensated care and other unprofitable but socially valuable services.