Comparison of 3 Safety-Net Hospital Definitions and Association With Hospital Characteristics

No consensus exists on how to define safety-net hospitals (SNHs) for research or policy decision-making. Identifying which types of hospitals are classified as SNHs under different definitions is key to assessing policies that affect SNH funding.To examine characteristics of SNHs as classified under 3 common definitions.This cross-sectional analysis includes noncritical-access hospitals in the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project State...