Safety Net Hospitals

Prepared by Judy Wessler, Director, Commission of Public Health
January 24, 2010

Follow-up data to identify those hospitals, at least in 2008, that we would label as safety-net hospitals in New York City.  This data was prepared by the Committee of Interns & Residents and taken from the 2008 Institutional Cost Reports that all hospitals in the state are required to file.  CPHS has proposed that hospitals with 50% uninsured and Medicaid patients be labeled as safety-net hospitals and treated more favorably in Medicaid reimbursement. 

The hospitals below are those that on average of inpatient and outpatient services reach the 50% level.  Also listed is the Uninsured/Charity Care as a separate number, since some hospitals do better in providing care for Medicaid patients than for the uninsured.  Many of these hospitals are located in low-income, Medically underserved, immigrant and communities of color — communities that have already lost services.  Note also that there are large differences in the percent of care for the uninsured and another proposal from CPHS is that funding from the state’s Charity Care pool be distributed to hospitals on the basis of taking care of uninsured patients. 

The hospital names that are bold are public hospitals.

Hospital  —                                 Uninsured percent —       Medicaid and Uninsured
Bellevue                                     20.5%                           72.3%
Beth Israel                                   13.9%                           61.3%
Bronx Lebanon                             10.8%                           74.7%
Brookdale                                      6.1%                           60.0%
Brooklyn                                        7.1%                           60.2%
Coney Island                              15.8%                           62.0%
Elmhurst                                    18.5%                           75.6%
Episcopal                                       3.0%                           52.2%
Flushing                                         8.0%                           58.8%
Harlem                                         16.6%                           74.8%
Interfaith                                       7.3%                            71.8%
Jacobi                                          8.2%                            70.8%
Jamaica                                         7.5%                            66.2%
Kings County                              20.9%                           75.0%
Lincoln                                        16.4%                           75.0%
Lutheran                                       11.0%                           60.2%
Maimonides                                     6.3%                           54.5%
Metropolitan                               17.6%                           77.9%
North Central Bronx                      8.4%                           78.6%
North General (since closed)              9.3%                           72.7%
New York Downtown                       7.6%                           52.3%
Queens Hospital                          19.8%                            76.3%
St. Barnabas                                   9.7%                            70.2%
Woodhull                                    19.5%                            78.1%
Wyckoff                                         7.3%                            62.7%

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