HARRISBURG, Pa., Sept. 29 /PRNewswire/ -- The Hospital & Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania (HAP) today released the following statement by President and CEO Carolyn F. Scanlan in response to the 2003 Hospital Performance Report issued by the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council (PHC4):
“The data in the PHC4 report show that mortality rates in Pennsylvania’s hospitals continue a significant decline - a solid indicator of hospitals’ ongoing commitment to quality care and patient safety that benefits the more than 1.8 million people who depend on us each year for inpatient care.
“These clinical achievements come at a time when Pennsylvania’s hospitals face persistent financial challenges that threaten patient access to health care.
“Nearly half of our hospitals have negative operating margins, and more than half have suffered through two consecutive years of losses.
“Pennsylvania’s hospitals annually provide about a half billion dollars in uncompensated care to the uninsured and underinsured.
“The medical liability insurance crisis continues to tax hospitals’ ability to keep units open by having enough physicians available to deliver babies and treat trauma victims.
“Pennsylvania’s acute care hospitals are unique because they are all private - not a single one is taxpayer-owned, as is the case in most other states; yet these hospitals are all linchpins in their communities’ economic infrastructure that must be maintained.
“That reality makes it imperative for state and federal policymakers to consider the health of hospitals - and, by extension, their communities - as they make decisions about critical health care issues, including reimbursements for care, medical liability reform, and workforce retention and recruitment.”
Information for health care consumers is available on HAP’s website at http://www.haponline.org/audiences/consumers.
HAP is a statewide membership services organization that advocates for nearly 250 Pennsylvania acute and specialty care, primary care, subacute care, long-term care, home health, and hospice providers, as well as the patients and communities they serve.
The Hospital & Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania
CONTACT: Roger H. Baumgarten, Director, Media Relations, The Hospital &Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania, +1-717-561-5342, or Cell:+1-717-329-9537, or rbaumgarten@haponline.org
