Catholic Hospitals Act More Like Corporations Than Charitable Organizations

By Consumers for Quality Care, on November 27, 2024

Catholic hospitals, like many nonprofit hospitals, are becoming more like big businesses, spending little on charity care while patients struggle to pay for medical care, according to KFF Health News.

Increasingly, Catholic hospitals are operating more like big businesses than establishments founded to fulfill its mission of caring for all patients, even those with limited financial means.

SSM Health, which was founded by five nuns more than a century ago in St. Louis, Missouri, now operates 23 hospitals in four states and reported $10 billion in revenue last year. While nonprofit hospitals have been found to spend less on charity care than the amount they receive in tax breaks, an analysis of SSM Health’s tax filings found that their charity care spending represents only about 5 percent of its annual expenses. That’s much lower than the national average for what nonprofits spend on charity care – around 15 percent of their annual expenses. Meanwhile, SSM Health’s CEO received $8.4 million in compensation in 2022.

These practices hurt consumers and contribute to the country’s growing medical debt crisis, all while hospitals pad their bottom lines and pay executives handsomely. 

CQC urges all hospitals to uphold their end of the bargain to serve their communities and deliver care for patients when they need it most.