At Catholic Hospitals, a Mission of Charity Runs Up Against High Care Costs for Patients - KFF Health News

Catholic nuns established many hospitals in the name of service.

But modern-day practices at such facilities demonstrate how they adhere to directives and church teaching in one way.

Catholic health systems adhere to church teachings but neglect social responsibility standards, patients and clinicians say.

PeaceHealth aims to “carry on the healing mission of Jesus Christ by promoting personal and community health”.

Several large nonprofit Catholic health systems spend far less on community benefits than the estimated value of the millions they receive in tax breaks, a think tank says.

Five of the 10 health systems with the greatest “fair share deficits” are Catholic : Providence, CommonSpirit Health , Trinity Health , Ascension , and Bon Secours Mercy Health’s deficits were between $488 million and $1 billion .

Research by Community Catalyst , a consumer advocacy group, found that Catholic hospitals treat fewer Medicaid patients than other nonprofit hospitals, something at odds with their mission of prioritizing health care needs of the poor.

Four of the 10 largest U.S. hospital chains by number of beds are Catholic , according to federal data.

The actions of Catholic health systems can have an outsize impact because of their reach, fueled by mergers in recent years .

Hospital leaders said obstetric deliveries had “declined at a record rate” but birth data from the Oregon Health Authority tells a different story.