DO UNCOMPENSATED CARE POOLS CHANGE THE DISTRIBUTION OF HOSPITAL-CARE TO THE UNINSURED

In 1983, New York State established an uncompensated care pool using t he New York Prospective Hospital Reimbursement Methodology (NYPHRM). T wo policy objectives of the NYPHRM were (1) to encourage more equitabl e distribution of uncompensated care across hospitals and (2) to incre ase access to hospital care fur the uninsured. This article demonstrat es that the New York uncompensated care pool was only moderately succe ssful in achieving these goals. The principal findings are that the NY PHRM did result in routine care being redistributed away from hospital s that traditionally provided care to the uninsured, while provision o f highly technological care was not significantly redistributed. This article suggests that if the primary policy goal is to increase access to care for the uninsured by changing the distribution of hospitals w illing to provide care, the uncompensated care pool approach is modera tely effective.