Comparison of 3 Safety-Net Hospital Definitions and Association With Hospital Characteristics.

ABSTRACT:

Importance

No consensus exists on how to define safety-net hospitals (SNHs) for research or policy decision-making. Identifying which types of hospitals are classified as SNHs under different definitions is key to assessing policies that affect SNH funding.

Objective

To examine characteristics of SNHs as classified under 3 common definitions.

Design, setting, and participants

This cross-sectional analysis includes noncritical-access hospitals in the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project State Inpatient Databases from 47 US states for fiscal year 2015, linked to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Hospital Cost Reports and to the American Hospital Association Annual Survey. Data were analyzed from March 1 through September 30, 2018.

Exposures

Hospital

SUBMITTER: Popescu I 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6686776 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature