A report prepared by The Chartis Group and released Aug. 10 by the American Hospital Association highlights the vital and unique role that full-service hospitals play in caring for their communities. Prepared to Care explores hospitals' standby role in providing access to care for all patients 24 hours a day, seven days a week, regardless of patients' ability to pay, and in ensuring that their staff and facilities are prepared to care for victims of large-scale accidents, natural disasters, epidemics and terrorist actions.
The report also outlines the capacity and financing pressures hospitals face in maintaining their standby role, including workforce shortages, government underfunding, and the movement of care to limited-service providers that don’t serve this role. In addition, the report contains a variety of messages and statistics to help hospitals tell their story to their local leaders.
For more information and ready-to-use PowerPoint presentations, click “Resources” at www.caringforcommunities.org, or visit the AHA’s Policy Forum Web site. The report is attached below in PDF format.
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