Nonprofit Hospitals' Charity Care Policies, Provision of Charity Care Dollars, and Mission Drift

Download or read book Nonprofit Hospitals' Charity Care Policies, Provision of Charity Care Dollars, and Mission Drift written by Clayton D. Thomas and published by . This book was released on 2021 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Approximately one-in-six Americans carry medical debt, which hinders physical and mental health, opportunities for economic mobility, and pursuits of necessary medical treatment. In the absence of strong social programs to prevent medical debt, many hospitals provide charity care. Charity care represents an economic loss to hospitals, but patients receiving charity care are absolved from paying their hospital bills. Nonprofit hospitals have a legacy of providing charity care, but there are no uniform standards for charity care provision. Research is needed to identify which hospitals act as good faith participants in the social safety net. In this dissertation, I study hospitals' behaviors related to charity care to better understand which characteristics of nonprofit hospitals are associated with their fulfillment of their legacy related to charity.