WASHINGTON — Essential hospitals, the bedrock of the health care safety net and 5 percent of U.S. hospitals, provided more than a quarter of the nation’s charity care in 2022, about three times the physician training of other hospitals, and an outsized share of lifesaving services.
Those findings and others come in a new profile of the more than 300 hospital and health system members of America’s Essential Hospitals. The annual member snapshot, Essential Data, Our Hospitals, Our Patients, also found that, in 2022, essential hospitals:
- Sustained an average operating loss of −9 percent, compared with −2.8 percent at other U.S. hospitals
- Provided nearly $23 billion in uncompensated and under-reimbursed care
- Operated a median of 34 outpatient clinics, extending care to hard-to-reach populations
- Housed a third of the nation’s level I trauma centers, more than 40 percent of burn care beds, and nearly 60 percent of obstetric units that handle the most complex cases
- Employed more than 880,000 people nationally and drove more than $283 billion in state economic output
“Essential hospitals are more than their mission to care for people who face financial hardships,” said America’s Essential Hospitals President and CEO Bruce Siegel, MD, MPH. “They are a key source of lifesaving care for everyone and a major employer and economic engine in the community.”
They also are central to the pipeline of new health care professionals: America’s Essential Hospitals members trained an average of 231 physicians in 2022, compared with 84 at other U.S. teaching hospitals, the association found. Nearly three-quarters of the association’s members are academic medical centers or major teaching hospitals.
Essential hospitals provided extensive ambulatory care in 2022 — more than 100 million emergency and nonemergency outpatient visits —and reach deep into their communities with large networks of clinics. “You have to meet people where they are to overcome the many economic and social barriers to care they face,” Siegel said. “Our hospitals understand that and rise to the challenge.”
Because this work carries a high cost in uncompensated and under-reimbursed care, essential hospitals rely on federal, state, and local funding support — especially Medicaid payments and 340B Drug Pricing Program discounts — to meet their mission. Without Medicaid disproportionate share hospital payments and other supplemental support, for example, the association’s members would have been 14 percent in the red in 2022, the data show.
“Many millions of patients across our county depend on essential hospitals,” Siegel said. “We can’t afford to lose these community anchors. We must make sure they have the support they need and that it reaches the hospitals that provide this vital care.”
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About America’s Essential Hospitals
America’s Essential Hospitals is the leading association and champion for hospitals dedicated to equitable, high-quality care for all, including those who face social and financial barriers to care. Since 1981, America’s Essential Hospitals has advanced policies and programs that promote health, health care access, and equity. We support our more than 300 members with advocacy, policy development, research, education, and leadership development. Communities depend on essential hospitals for care across the continuum, health care workforce training, research, public health and health equity, and other services. Essential hospitals innovate and adapt to lead all of health care toward better outcomes and value.
Contact:
Carl Graziano
cgraziano@essentialhospitals.org
202.585.0102
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