Responsibilities of Non-Profit Health Care Organizations

Responsibilities of Non-Profit Health Care Organizations- Discussion 1 WK 8

Memorial Medical Center (MMC)- Case Scenario:

The management team of Memorial Medical Center must make a decision regarding the continuation of one of its outpatient clinics. To provide better community service, MMC developed three outpatient clinics throughout a large metropolitan area. Over the past several years, one of the clinics has consistently been a financial loser. The losses have grown even as the costs of maintaining the clinic have increased. A primary reason for the negative financial performance is the high amount of non-reimbursed healthcare services— the clinic provides needed health care to a low-income part of the metropolitan area. Several members of the executive management team believe MMC has no alternative other than closing the clinic. One member of the management team, however, believes that the situation raises ethical concerns, and that the executive team seeks an ethics-grounded response to the problem. (Nelson, p. 9)

In line with the scenario presented above it is notice that within today's health care system, market pressures are reducing the amount of charity care hospitals provide. The tax exemption granted to nonprofit hospitals constitutes an investment of public resources (http://www.rwjf.org/reports/grr/028427s.htm). These entities are expected to provide free care to the indigent and the uninsured. Lately a growing concern has raised directed to nonprofit hospitals that have eliminated programs benefiting the community while maintaining tax-exempt status. Some studies have found that the value of the "community benefit" provided by nonprofit hospitals is generally lower than that of the taxes forgone (http://www.rwjf.org/reports/grr/028427s.htm). As the uninsured continues to increase in USA and other areas, the funding streams that traditionally have been serving as supportive platform for them have come under an increasing pressure in...