Patients’ access to health care services in rural areas has been a main concern over the years. Critical Access Hospitals (CAH) were formed when Congress passed the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 (public law, 105-33) after a number of rural hospitals shut down during the 1980s and early 1990s. CAHs are designations given to qualified small rural hospitals that have a low patient number and short stays and receive payments for their affordable healthcare services to beneficiaries of Medicare and Medicaid services (Joynt, Harris, Orav, & Jha, 2011). The aim of creating CAHs was to reduce the financial strain of rural hospitals while improving the availability of healthcare to rural communities.
Teaching and non-teaching hospitals differ according to mortality rate, cost of care and quality of health care services. Teaching hospitals have low mortality rates as compared to non-teaching hospitals while the cost of care in teaching hospitals is high as compared to the latter (Langabeer & Napiewocki, 2000). Moreover, teaching hospitals often deliver quality and more complex care as compared to the latter but it leads to low customer satisfaction. Non-teaching hospitals often thrive on this aspect due to their low numbers of readmissions within 30 days.
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Nonprofit/Not-for-profit (NFP) hospitals are vital in the U.S because they are a source of much-needed health services and contribute a lot to the economy. Federal tax exemption for charitable organizations has been in existence since the beginning of federal income tax law. Therefore, NFP hospitals fall under this but they are required to provide community benefits such as community education about health risks, operate an emergency room open to all, and basic health research (IRS, n.d.). The IRS requires them to have the following documents: IRS form 990 which contains revenues and expenses, Medicare cost reports, form 8038 that details value and purpose of issued bond and other financial information, state reporting requirements and voluntary reporting requirements.
References
IRS. (n.d.). Charitable Hospitals - General Requirements for Tax-Exemption Under Section 501(c)(3). Retrieved from https://www.irs.gov/charities-non-profits/charitable-hospitals-general-requirements-for-tax-exemption-under-section-501c3
Joynt, K. E., Harris, Y., Orav, E. J., & Jha, A. K. (2011). Quality of Care and Patient Outcomes in Critical Access Rural Hospitals. Jama, 306 (1). doi:10.1001/jama.2011.902
Langabeer, J.R. & Napiewocki, J. (2000). Competitive business strategy for teaching hospitals . Westport: Diane Publishing Co.
