AHRQ Stats: Safety-Net Hospitals

One quarter of safety-net hospitals accounted for 33 percent of all inpatient stays, 50 percent of stays covered by Medicaid, 45 percent of uninsured stays and 43 percent of all mental health-related stays in 2014. (Source: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project Statistical Brief #213: Characteristics of Safety-Net Hospitals, 2014.)

October 2016

Characteristics of Safety-Net Hospitals, 2014

Janet Pagon Sutton, Ph.D., Raynard E. Washington, Ph.D., Kathryn R. Fingar, Ph.D., M.P.H., and Anne Elixhauser, Ph.D.

Highlights

Safety-net hospitals (SNHs) were defined as hospitals with the highest number of inpatient stays that were paid by Medicaid or were uninsured (the top quartile). Although by definition SNHs represented only 25 percent of all hospitals in the 40 States included in this Brief, they accounted for 33 percent of all inpatient stays, about half of all stays that were paid by Medicaid or were uninsured (50 and 45 percent, respectively) and 43 percent of all mental health stays.

Compared with non-SNHs, SNHs were more likely to be teaching hospitals, to have a large number of inpatient beds, and to be located in large central metropolitan areas.

Children constituted one in five SNH stays compared with one in seven stays at non-SNHs.

Maternal and neonatal stays constituted 26 percent of all inpatient stays at SNHs versus 22 percent of stays at non-SNHs. Maternal and neonatal stays at SNHs cost more and were longer than those stays at non-SNHs.

The mean cost, length of stay, and number of chronic conditions among nonmaternal and nonneonatal stays were lower at SNHs compared with non-SNHs.

On average, a higher percentage of stays at SNHs were admitted through the emergency department than at non-SNHs (58 vs. 46 percent of nonmaternal and nonneonatal stays).

Compared with non-SNHs, nonmaternal and nonneonatal stays at SNHs were more likely to be for the mental health-related diagnoses of mood disorders and schizophrenia/other psychotic disorders.