Safety Net Association of PA

What is a safety-net hospital?

A safety-net hospital treats an especially high proportion of Medical Assistance patients and provides the services that those patients need most. In SNAP’s view, safety-net hospitals provide more care to Medical Assistance patients than the state-wide average, which is 15 percent of inpatient days (based on currently available data), and also deliver babies and/or provide inpatient behavioral health services – the two most common reasons that Medical Assistance recipients are admitted to hospitals. If a hospital does not deliver babies or provide inpatient behavioral health care, it is considered a safety-net hospital only if at least 25 percent of its inpatient days are in service to Medical Assistance patients. The 25 percent mark represents one standard deviation above the state-wide statistical mean – a measure that indicates that such hospitals’ service to the Medical Assistance population is considered greater to a statistically significant degree and, in SNAP’s view, therefore deserving of this special designation.

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