Safety net hospitals are a more inclusive healthcare service option. This article, written by Sophia Paessens, explores the ways that these inclusive hospitals are beneficial particularly to vulnerable populations. Safety net hospitals (SNHs) are defined as hospitals that offer and provide healthcare to patients, without taking their financial status and ability to pay into account ("Environmental Scan"). This means that vulnerable populations, such as the uninsured and people supported by Medicaid, are usually guaranteed health care services at SNHs. Most safety net hospitals also provide health-related services to the public that other hospitals may not. A lot of safety net hospitals provide services for trauma, inpatient behavior health, and burn care ("Environmental Scan"). These are care services that some other hospitals do not offer. As mentioned previously, one of the groups of patients that safety net hospitals provide service for are the uninsured. According to the Healthcare Consumer Navigator Center (HCNC), people without healthcare insurance are more likely to avoid their needed health care and medical services, which can result in their health-related problems becoming worse ("Safety Net Hospitals"). When these patients do get their needed care, it can, in many cases, have a negative impact on their finances. People who are uninsured or underinsured are likely to have problems with paying their medical expenses at normal hospitals. According to a survey done by The Commonwealth Fund in 2014, 51% of underinsured patients had problems paying medical bills, 47% used their savings, 34% used their credit cards, and 7% declared bankruptcy when paying for medical bills. (Collins et al.).
These problems can be prevented with safety net hospitals. Since SNHs offer unbiased services to this range of clients, they can get the health care that they need without worrying about not being treated because of their finances. In 2014, safety net hospitals in 40 states in the United States provided care for a total of over 10 million patients, around half of them (so around 5 million) being uninsured, underinsured, or paid by Medicaid (Sutton et al.). This means that many uninsured people and people supported by Medicaid were able to get the healthcare they needed. Though safety net hospitals are greatly beneficial to those that are underinsured, uninsured, or are being supported by Medicaid, many of these people do not know about SNHs. The people that need SNHs the most should be informed about them, so they know about this healthcare option. You can help in doing this by spreading the word about SNHs, especially to those who may need them the most. Works Cited: 7089643. Hospital building with an ambulance. Pixabay, 11 Mar. 2020, pixabay.com/illustrations/hospital-ambulance-building-4918290/. Accessed 30 Apr. 2021. Collins, Sara R., et al. "How Well Does Insurance Coverage Protect Consumers from Health Care Costs?" The Commonwealth Fund, Oct. 2017, www.commonwealthfund.org/sites/default/files/documents/___media_files_publications_issue_brief_2017_oct_collins_underinsured_biennial_ib.pdf. Accessed 30 Apr. 2021. "Environmental Scan to Identify the Major Research Questions and Metrics for Monitoring the Effects of the Affordable Care Act on Safety Net Hospitals. C. Definition of Safety Net Hospitals." Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 1 June 2013, aspe.hhs.gov/report/environmental-scan-identify-major-research-questions-and-metrics-monitoring-effects-affordable-care-act-safety-net-hospitals/c-definition-safety-net-hospitals. Accessed 30 Apr. 2021. "Safety Net Hospitals; A Resource for the Healthcare Consumers." Healthcare Consumer Navigator Center, healthcareconsumernavigatorcenter.com/consumer-information-navigator/safety-net-hospitals-resource-healthcare-consumers/. Accessed 28 Apr. 2021. Sutton, Janet Pagon, et al. "Characteristics of Safety-Net Hospitals, 2014." National Center for Biotechnology Information, Oct. 2016, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK401306/. Accessed 28 Apr. 2021.
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Welcome to our blog, Medquity!Here we will post extra articles on health disparities to display the profound health inequities in our healthcare system. These are updated every other weekend, so check back regularly! Archives
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