AAMC Data Snapshot Shows Benefits of Non-Profit Health Systems Beyond Charity Care

The AAMC Research and Action Institute has published a new data snapshot examining the differences in services offered across health systems and hospitals by profitability status, ownership, and teaching status to better illustrate the benefit provided to communities beyond narrowly defined charity care. The authors highlighted the discrepancies in services offered across short-term general and critical-access hospitals and how these relate to charity care and the policy implications of defining and interpreting charity care differently across institutions. 

The data show that not-for-profit hospitals — and particularly teaching hospitals — were more likely than for-profit hospitals and nonteaching hospitals to offer a comprehensive list of health care services, including unprofitable ones such as trauma and burn centers, psychiatric services, and substance use disorder care. For example, 65.7% of major teaching hospitals and 73.2% of AAMC-member health systems and hospitals offer psychiatric services, compared to just 19.3% of nonteaching hospitals. Across all for-profit hospitals, including specialty hospitals, less than half offer general medical and surgical services — and among short-term general, non-specialty hospitals, for-profit hospitals are less likely to offer many services.