Value and Performance of Nonprofit Healthcare

Below are a variety of articles that address the value and performance of Nonprofit Healthcare.

• "A Broader Vision of Managed Care, Part 3: The Scope and Determinants of Community Benefits". This article by researchers Mark Schlesinger, Brad Gray and Michael Gusmano in the May/June 2004 issue of Health Affairs reports on the results of their survey of a national sample of HMOs in 1999 indicating that the scope of community benefit activities was broader for HMOs that operate under nonprofit ownership, enroll Medicaid beneficiaries, are influenced by local business leaders, and are located in states with community benefit reporting laws.



• "U.S. For-Profit Hospitals Cost More - Canadian Study" This June 7, 2004 article by Reuters correspondent Maggie Fox, reports on a study just published by Canadian researchers in the Canadian Medical Association Journal who found that U.S. investor-owned hospitals are less cost-efficient (by nearly 20%) than their nonprofit counterparts.



• "Not-For-Profit Advocate Calls for Managerial Rigor" from Managed Care magazine, February 2004. In this Q and A article Howard Berman, Board Chair of the newly formed Alliance for Advancing Nonprofit Healthcare and recently retired as CEO of Lifetime Healthcare, the largest nonprofit healthcare organization in New York State, discusses the value of nonprofit healthcare as well as the challenges and opportunities ahead for the boards and managers of these organizations.



• "Costs, Commitment and Locality: A Comparison of For-Profit and Not-For-Profit Health Plans" a study commissioned by The Alliance for Advancing Nonprofit Health Care to determine if for-profit and not-for-profit health insurers within the same state behave differently in terms of performance, efficiency and contribution to safety net programs.



• "Measuring Community Benefits Provided by Nonprofit and For-Profit HMO's" from Inquiry, The Journal of Health Care Organization, Provision and Financing. Vol. 40, No. 2, pp. 114–132; September 2003.



• "Advancing the Role of Nonprofit Health Care" from Inquiry, The Journal of Health Care Organization, Provision and Financing. Vol. 39, No. 2 pp. 96-100; Summer 2002.



• For-profit health care not favored by most people" from Business First. December 4, 2003 Rochester-based Harris Interactive conducted this survey for The Wall Street Journal Online's Health Industry Edition.



• Editorial: " When Money Is the Mission: The High Costs of Investor-Owned Care" by: Steffie Woolhandler, M.D., M.P.H. and David U. Himmelstein, M.D. Cambridge Hospital from: New England Journal of Medicine, Vol 341, No. 6 August 5, 1999
  Refer to www.nejm.org (New England Journal of Medicine homepage) for more information on this article.



• "Community Business: Why not-for-profit status for health plans is important" by Andy Czajkowski and Mark W. Banks, M.D.
  from: Minnesota Physician, January 1999



• "Health Plan Characteristics And Consumers' Assessments Of Quality" by Bruce E. Landon , Alan M. Zaslavsky , Nancy Dean Beaulieu , James A. Shaul , Paul D. Cleary from: Health Affairs, The Policy Journal of the Health Sphere. March/April 2001. Volume 20 No. 2
  
  Many purchasers and consumers of health care have become concerned about the quality of care being delivered in managed care plans. Little is known, however, about the health plan characteristics that areassociated with better performance. We used survey responses from 82,583 Medicare beneficiaries from 182 health plans to study the association of consumers' assessments of care with health plan characteristics.For-profit and nationally affiliated health plans received much worse scores on the outcomes of interest, particularly for overall ratings of the health plan and composite measures of customer service andaccess to care. Health plans accredited by the National Committee for Quality Assurance did not receive higher scores. To order reprints of the entire article, click here.



• "Study Finds that Medicare Patients Give Higher Overall Marks to Nonprofit than For-Profit Health Plans"
  News Release: Harvard Medical School Office of Public Affairs. March 12, 2001



• "A systematic review and meta-analysis of studies comparing mortality rates of private for-profit and private not-for-profit hospitals" Reprinted from:, by permission of the publisher, CMAJ 20 May 2002; 166 (11) pp 1399-1406 © 2002 Canadian Medical Association
  *The Canadian Medical Association (CMA) assumes no responsibility or liability for damages arising from any error or omission in the text or from the use of any information or advice contained in this material.



• Special Article: "The Association Between For-Profit Hospital Ownership and Increased Medicare Spending" by: Elaine M. Silverman, M.D., M.P.H., Jonathan S. Skinner, Ph.D, and Elliot S. Fisher, M.D., M.P.H.
  from: New England Journal of Medicine, Vol 341, No. 6 August 5, 1999. Refer to www.nejm.org (New England Journal of Medicine homepage) for more information on this article.



• "Placing People Ahead of Profits"
  by Ronald F. King
  The Daily Oklahoman, October 31, 2001.



• "Blue Cross Conversion: Policy Considerations Arising From A Sale of the Maryland Plan"
  by Carl J. Schramm, Baltimore, Maryland. November 2001



• Odd Insurer Out - GHI remains nonprofit as others convert; solid finances enable its steady growth
  By Mary Sisson; Dec. 9, 2002 A month ago, Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield did something remarkable-it had a successful initial public offering. The health insurer converted from a nonprofit to a for-profit company with a bang, selling more stock and at a higher price than it had thought possible. To read the full story, CLICK HERE



• "Mass. Blues Get Healthy" By M. William Salganik
  from: The Baltimore Sun Originally published February 17, 2002
  As Blue Cross plans across the country are merging, acquiring or being acquired, and converting to for-profit status, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts remains comfortably local and resolutely nonprofit.It's not alone. A dozen other Blues plans, large and small, are members of a coalition called Advancing Non-Profit Health Care. But the Massachusetts Blues are among the most outspoken - and the most successful.The nonprofit Blues seem to be swimming against the tide.
  
  Click here to unarchive the full article from The Baltimore Sun. You will need to do a search for "Mass. Blues" from 2001