WARRENDALE, Pa., May 11 /PRNewswire/ -- This week marks national “Cover the Uninsured Week,” from May 10 through May 16. Hospitals throughout the western Pennsylvania area are participating through a variety of community outreach programs.
“This comes at a time when we are seeing a growing number of uninsured and underinsured individuals both here, and across the country,” said Ian G. Rawson, president of Hospital Council of Western Pennsylvania.
One indication of this is the rising amount of uncompensated care the region’s hospitals are providing, Rawson said. In a report released by Hospital Council last week, western Pennsylvania hospitals report providing $113 million in uncompensated care for the six-month period ending December 31, 2003. This compares to $111 million in uncompensated care for the same six-month period ending in December 2002. The report, called the Flash Survey, outlines financial and utilization trends from western Pennsylvania hospitals.
“Our region’s hospitals continue to care for the most vulnerable people from their communities,” Rawson said. “At the same time, these hospitals continue to face increased pressures from declining reimbursements and increasing expenses. This creates a very fragile healthcare system for those most in need of health care.”
The region’s hospitals are continuing to face losses from operations with hospitals reporting a 0.10 percent net operating margin loss, down from last year’s average net operating margin of 0.0 percent from the same period last year. At the same time, hospital expenses increased 7.0 percent.
“Hospitals continue to be assets in the community, both for the care they provide as well as by serving as economic drivers,” Rawson said. “We need to work to preserve the safety net western Pennsylvania hospitals provide for those who do not have health insurance.”
Hospital Council of Western Pennsylvania is a regional association representing hospitals, long-term care facilities and other health care providers in a 30-county region of western Pennsylvania.
For more information on Cover the Uninsured Week visit http://www.covertheuninsuredweek.org/ .
Hospital Council of Western Pennsylvania
CONTACT: Patricia Raffaele Jurczak of Hospital Council of Western PA,+1-724-772-7202, or jurczakp@hcwp.org
Web site: http://www.covertheuninsuredweek.org/
