Can public policy really be changed to help safety-net hospitals?
Absolutely and in fact, it already has, and the uncompensated care payments paid from tobacco settlement funds are proof that it can be done. In Pennsylvania today, policy-makers are genuinely concerned about the ability of all Pennsylvanians to obtain the health care they need and have demonstrated their willingness to help hospitals that provide the lion’s share of that care. But SNAP believes that first, they must be shown which hospitals are providing most of that care and how best to provide the help those hospitals need. For this reason, safety-net hospitals need to work together in a bipartisan manner, bringing together organizations from all parts of the state with friends on both sides of the political aisle to change state health care and reimbursement policies and practices in ways that will benefit safety-net hospitals.
