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Advocate Special Payments for Urban Safety-Net Hospitals
NAUH has developed an innovative proposal for selected private, non-profit urban safety-net hospitals to receive special, supplemental payments from the federal government to help them carry out their missions of service to their predominantly low-income and elderly communities - payments comparable to those already received by most other safety-net providers. In 2008, NAUH will seek congressional sponsors for this proposal and advocate vigorously for its adoption by Congress.
Such payments are essential, in NAUH's view, because these hospitals are the primary sources of care - often, the only sources of care - for especially large numbers of low-income people, including Medicaid recipients, the poor elderly, and the uninsured. Entire communities are dependent on these hospitals - and especially, on their emergency rooms. Many of these urban hospitals are struggling today - struggling under the weight of unprecedented demand for their services and struggling under the weight of the financial implications of caring for so many people who cannot pay for their care. According to every measure by which the financial health of hospitals is conventionally measured, urban safety-net hospitals are in worse financial condition - and in most cases, significantly worse financial condition - than any other group of private hospitals, non-profit or for-profit, in the country today. Many may not be able to survive into the future, leaving their communities vulnerable to a loss of access to care. The supplemental payments that NAUH seeks will help ensure that these hospitals can continue to fulfill their role as safety-net providers in low-income communities throughout the country.
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