Nonprofit health care often better, study says

CHICAGO (Reuters) - For-profit nursing homes and hospitals on average provide an inferior quality of care compared with their nonprofit peers, according to an extensive review of studies published on Tuesday found.

Authors writing in the journal Health Affairs found that a systematic analysis of 162 studies of nonprofit versus for-profit health care providers supports the concept that a facility's ownership status makes a difference in outcomes and in the cost of health care.

"The overall pattern found differences between nonprofits and for-profits regarding cost, quality and accessibility," said Bradford Gray, a principal research associate at the Urban Institute -- a nonprofit research group -- and lead study author.

For-profit ownership is climbing in most sectors of health, from hospitals to hospice care. For example, for-profit hospitals accounted for 11 percent of all hospitals in the early 1990s and now account for 16 percent.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/nonprofit_study_dc

I would have thought private ownership was much higher. It is here in my area. I know of only one hospital here (and there are quite a few of them) that is nonprofit.

As far as the study itself goes, though, I am totally not suprised.

they have the highest pricest in the state.They have monopolized healthcare in WI and jacked the prices.