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For-profit hospitals linked to worse patient outcomes and nurse staffing shortfalls, new study finds

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For-profit hospitals linked to worse patient outcomes and nurse staffing shortfalls, new study finds

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Patients treated at for-profit hospitals experienced higher mortality and readmission rates, while nurses working in those hospitals reported less safe staffing and substantially worse working conditions, according to a new study led by researchers at Penn Nursing's Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research (CHOPR) and the Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics.

The findings, published in Medical Care, arrive amid increasing hospital corporatization and profit-driven health care. The study found that differences in nurse staffing accounted for part of the observed lower quality in for-profit hospitals.

The findings suggest that investments in nursing and state policies establishing safe staffing requirements are important and actionable mechanisms to ensure patient safety, nurse retention and quality of care for patients regardless of their hospital's ownership type.

Researchers studied the outcomes of more than 1.17 million patients across 143 for-profit and 798 nonprofit adult acute care hospitals in 10 states. Nurses in for-profit hospitals reported markedly worse staffing: 71% said their assigned patient workloads were not safe. Patient outcomes followed the same pattern. The comparison with nonprofit hospitals showed that in for-profit hospitals:

The consequences for nurses working in for-profit hospitals were concerning. Nurse burnout was significantly higher in for-profit hospitals. Nurses in for-profit hospitals were far less likely to recommend their hospital to family and friends as a place of care or a place to work because of their concerns about poorer staffing.


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