HOSPITALS: How many DSH hospitals are there?

Hospitals that serve a higher proportion of low-income patients are eligible to receive disproportionate share payments from state Medicaid programs.

DSH hospital: A hospital that receives disproportionate share hospital (DSH) payments and meets the minimum statutory requirements to be eligible for DSH payments: a Medicaid inpatient utilization rate of at least 1 percent and at least two obstetricians with staff privileges that treat Medicaid enrollees (with certain exceptions” (page 57)

In this report from the Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission (MACPAC), there is a table that quantifies the number of disproportionate share hospitals (DSH) in the United States as of 2012.

DSH Hospitals: Counts by Type of Hospital

• 1,865 (55 percent) of Short-term acute care hospitals
•    565 (42 percent) of Critical access hospitals
•    129 (26 percent) of Psychiatric hospitals
•      47 (58 percent) of Children’s hospitals
•      32 (  7 percent) of Long-term hospitals
•      32 (13 percent) of Rehabilitation hospitals

Counts by Location

• 1,681 (40 percent) of urban hospitals
•    989 (54 percent) of rural hospitals

Counts by Teaching Status

• 1,921 (39 percent) of non-teaching hospitals
•    392 (59 percent) of “low-teaching” hospitals
•    357 (79 percent) of “high-teaching” hospitals

Source: Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission. (2017, March). Report to Congress on Medicaid and CHIP (pp. 57, 59). Washington, D.C.: MACPAC.  Click here for access: https://www.macpac.gov/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/March-2017-Report-to-Congress-on-Medicaid-and-CHIP.pdf  Posted by AHA Resource Center (312) 422-2050, rc@aha.org