Study finds nonprofit healthcare often better quality than for-profit run

[Terran1212]

Excerpt:

Published on Tuesday, June 21, 2006 by Reuters
Nonprofit Health Care Often Better: Study
by Kim Dixon


For-profit nursing homes and hospitals on average provide an inferior quality of care compared with their nonprofit peers, according to an extensive review of studies published on Tuesday.

Authors writing in the journal Health Affairs found that a systematic analysis of 162 studies of nonprofit versus for-profit health care providers supports the concept that a facility's ownership status makes a difference in outcomes and in the cost of health

"Their work should lay to rest claims that little distinguishes nonprofit versus for-profit health care," University of Michigan professor Jill Horwitz wrote in editorial also running in the policy journal.

The analysis found a pattern of differences between nonprofits and for-profits in cost, quality and accessibility, said Bradford Gray, a principal research associate at the Urban Institute -- a nonprofit research group -- and lead study author.

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0621-07.htm

[sutz12]

1. No surprise...

Non-profits are out to provide healthcare.

For-profits are out to make money.

Only a diehard free market capitalist freeper can't see the difference there. Hey, I'm all for free markets and competition, but I don't believe it's the best answer to every problem we have.

[Warpy]

2. Any nurse could tell you THAT

For profit hospitals and nursing homes often have nice buildings and spiffy furniture in the waiting rooms, but they cheap out on staffing first and foremost, go with the cheapest generic drugs they can find, and have been caught cross training housekeeping staff to do things like phlebotomy. This is nuts.

Sucking profit out of a system invariably degrades service. This can be annoying when you can't find sales help in Walmart. It's fatal in health care.

[ThomCat]

3. That is the scariest post I've read in a long time.

Damn.

[Warpy]

5. Thanks

We nurses really have to get through to people.

There are simply not enough of us to do the job, especially since management is working us past exhaustion, often mandating extra 12 hour shifts at their convenience.

Cross training is a fact in for profit hospitals. Some have gone so far as to ban name tags that identify nurses as such, as opposed to nursing assistants, diet aides, or housekeeping staff.

The good news is that there is a class action suit by nurses against HCA, Frist's outfit and the worst offender, for wage fixing.

[Virginia Dare]

6. There is something inherently morally wrong...

with making profits off of sick people.

I have a friend whose parents are from Ireland, and when her mother developed alzheimer's they took her back to Ireland. They said there was no way they would put her into an American nursing home.

Sad and pathetic.

[tonkatoy57]

4. Sun Rises In East

nt

[Terran1212]

9. ; p

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

7. I volunteer for a non-profit health foundation

the doctor works part time at WalMart's eye center in order to have money to live on. She lets patients pay out their bills, and "pay it forward"-in other words, she credits their bill if they volunteer, say, at a local nursing home or animal shelter or soup kitchen. Her nurse does the "nurse stuff", and the office staff does "office stuff"-no crossover. And she makes sure her nurses are paid a good wage for the area.

[depakid]

8. It'll be interesting to read the study

It's not available on Health Affairs yet, so it's hard to say how valid the conclusions are.

Non-profits have been taking a LOT well deserved heat lately for failing to provide sufficient community benefits (like charity care) to justify their tax free status.

Others engage in aggressive collections pracitces and unfair "Persian rug" pricing schemes where uninsured patients get charged much more than insurers (and the patients who pay the coinsurance and dedustibles).

These articles spell out some of the abuses very clearly:

http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-charity30.html

http://ncronline.org/NCR_Online/archives2/2005d/122305/122305h.php

[Tonya]

10. There is no difference..

The only difference between a non-profit and a for profit is the tax status, end of story. It has nothing to do with the quality of healthcare provided.

[depakid]

11. Well, the study apparently comes to a different conclusion

And I suspect that they may in many instances be correct. For-profits have an incentive to funnel thier earnings to Wall Street- whereas non-profits may be more likely to reinvest.

And there's probably more corner cutting going on in for-profits hospitals and long-term care centers.

[newyawker99]

12. Hi Tonya!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast: