Assessing Catholic community hospitals versus nonprofit community hospitals, 1989-1992

Catholic community hospitals are becoming more like nongovernment, not-for-profit community hospitals of a similar bed size located in the same states. After controlling for state, urban-versus-rural location, and bed-size range, a matched set of 303 Catholic community hospitals are compared with nongovernment, not-for-profit community hospitals. This empirical study documents that the average 1992 Catholic hospital is less profitable, with older equipment, and treats more Medicare patients than the average matched community hospital.