National trends in uncompensated care and profitability

The nation's short-term acute care hospitals (STACHs) have reported nearly $124 billon in uncompensated care costs since federal fiscal year 2003. Although Medicare requires acute care hospitals to report uncompensated care costs, more than 20 percent of Medicare cost reports submitted by STACHs over the past five years have not complied fully with that requirement. Although increased costs of uncompensated care have affected different types of hospitals in different ways, virtually all STACHs have been challenged by these costs.