Non-profit hospitals are held to high standards on charity care provided to indigent populations, but in North Carolina, profits at some of those hospitals are overwhelmingly higher than the charity care provided, according to a News & Observer report.
Because non-profit hospitals are obligated to provide charity care, low charity care amounts have raised questions throughout the country as to whether non-profit hospitals should continue to hold their non-profit and tax-exempt statuses. The News & Observer and The Charlotte Observer found several statistics on North Carolina hospitals and their charity care:
• Roughly 33 percent of hospitals in the state spent less than 2 percent of their budgets on charity care in 2010.
• Most of the hospitals reporting low charity care figures are small, rural hospitals that are also losing money.
• In 2010, charity care at the three hospitals within the Durham, N.C.-based Duke Health represented 3.3 percent of the health system's budget. That same year, Duke Health was running an operating margin of 14 percent.
• Roughly 66 percent of uninsured patients interviewed by the two newspapers said they were never informed of a hospital's charity care policy.
Because non-profit hospitals are obligated to provide charity care, low charity care amounts have raised questions throughout the country as to whether non-profit hospitals should continue to hold their non-profit and tax-exempt statuses. The News & Observer and The Charlotte Observer found several statistics on North Carolina hospitals and their charity care:
• Roughly 33 percent of hospitals in the state spent less than 2 percent of their budgets on charity care in 2010.
• Most of the hospitals reporting low charity care figures are small, rural hospitals that are also losing money.
• In 2010, charity care at the three hospitals within the Durham, N.C.-based Duke Health represented 3.3 percent of the health system's budget. That same year, Duke Health was running an operating margin of 14 percent.
• Roughly 66 percent of uninsured patients interviewed by the two newspapers said they were never informed of a hospital's charity care policy.
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