Opinion: The U.S. doesn’t need a new ‘essential hospital’ designation
A recent essay in Health Affairs, a prominent health care journal, proposed a useful-sounding idea: The government should create a new federal designation for “essential hospitals” — hospitals that, according to their own metrics, serve a safety-net role but aren’t currently recognized as such.
But it isn’t useful at all. The proposal is a thinly veiled attempt for these so-called essential hospitals to secure more government funds and protections without improving the quality or cost of care. The siren song for additional privileges from the government is all too common in health care, and it’s a key driver of the country’s health care cost crisis. Instead of granting special privileges, lawmakers should seek to establish a level playing field in health care by removing bad incentives.
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