Did you know most of Ohio’s hospitals are non-profit, charitable organizations? Are you aware nearly 45 percent of Ohio’s hospitals are considered small and rural facilities? Ever heard that 50 Ohio hospitals function as teaching facilities, training future generations of physicians and other medical professionals? Learn more about Ohio’s health care safety net in this brief bio of Ohio’s hospitals.
Fact: 173 short-term hospitals
OHA’s membership includes 173 short-term, acute care hospitals in Ohio – nearly every community hospital in the state. That is equivalent to nearly two community hospitals per county. Short-term, acute care hospitals offer short-term medical treatment for patients having an acute illness or injury or recovering from surgery for a short period of time—a day to a couple weeks.
Translation: This typically is where you go when you need an emergency department, are
having tonsils removed or need other surgeries, or when you require hospitalization due to sickness or injury. It does not include psychiatric, rehabilitation or limited-service facilities (though some short-term hospitals also offer these services).
Fact: 170 charitable organizations
Of OHA’s 173 member hospitals, 170 are non-profit, charitable organizations. They are organized and operated exclusively for one or more charitable purposes such as promotion of health. No private shareholders or owners receive dividends or profits.
Translation: Nearly every community hospital in Ohio is driven by a mission of caring for patients and community members, NOT by returning dividends to shareholders. These hospitals re-invest their “profits” in programs, services, jobs and equipment that improve health in their communities.
Ohio hospitals provided more than $2.2 billion worth of care and services for which they were not reimbursed in 2007. This includes care to uninsured patients, care for low-income patients for whom the government did not pay the full cost of care and other community activities such as health screenings. Beyond the $2.2 billion, Ohio hospitals provided another $730 million worth of care to elderly Ohioans that was not covered by Medicare and $666 million to patients who could not pay co-insurance or
deductibles.
Most Ohio hospitals are governed by boards of trustees that consist of community leaders who make decisions based on ensuring the community will have access to health care for years to come. Even so, approximately 20 community hospitals in Ohio have closed over the last 10 years, many due to financial hardship.
Fact: 30 teaching hospitals
Ohio has more than 30 major teaching hospitals, and nearly 20 additional Ohio hospitals help educate and train future physicians, nurses and other health care workers in some capacity.
Translation: Teaching hospitals assume financial and academic responsibility for a program of graduate medical education. They allow physicians-in-training and other health care workers to learn in their emergency rooms, free-standing ambulatory care centers, chronic care facilities, hospices and clinics. In addition, Ohio’s teaching hospitals are responsible for some of the most advanced research in the nation, which saves lives and brings federal research funding into Ohio’s economy. Many other hospitals—though not formal teaching hospitals—also provide educational experiences/assignments and rotations for residents and fellows of other programs.
Fact: 77 small and rural hospitals
Seventy-seven OHA member hospitals serve rural Ohio communities, and 34 of these facilities are designated as critical access hospitals.
Translation: A hospital that has fewer than 100 acute care beds and/or is located outside a Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area falls in the small and rural hospital category. To receive critical access hospital status, which provides cost-based reimbursement for services provided to Medicare patients, a hospital must provide 24-hour emergency services along with inpatient care, laboratory and radiology services. It must have no more than 15 acute-care beds or 25 total beds and keep patients an average of 96 hours or less. Thirty-four small and rural Ohio hospitals are designated by the Ohio Department of Health on behalf of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid to earn this designation.
**Unless otherwise noted in the text, the numbers in this report reflect OHA’s 173 member hospitals and do not include the several Ohio hospitals that currently are not members of OHA.
