Journal of health care for the poor and underserved
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J Health Care Poor Underserved · May 2004
Comparative StudyPromoting accountability: hospital charity care in California, Washington state, and Texas.
Debate as to whether private hospitals meet their charitable obligations is heated. This study examines how alternative state approaches for ensuring hospital accountability to the community affects charitable expenditures and potentially affects access to care for the uninsured. ⋯ The key finding from this study is that net of hospital characteristics, market characteristics and community need, Texas hospitals were estimated to provide over 3 times more charity care and Washington hospitals were estimated to provide 66% more charity care than California hospitals. This finding suggests that more prescriptive community benefit or charity care requirements may be necessary to ensure that private hospitals assume a larger role in the care of the uninsured.