Are hospitals passing off their low-profit patients?
Stroger pays for transfers from nonprofit hospitals getting tax breaks
Indigent and under-uninsured patients are turning to Cook County's Stroger Hospital after not getting fully treated at nonprofit hospitals, swamping the cash-strapped public facility while fueling the county's sky-high sales tax, a Tribune investigation found.
Some of these patients arrive at Stroger's emergency room bearing discharge slips, prescriptions, even Yahoo and Google maps from nonprofits hospitals, according to documents obtained by the Tribune.
"Go to Cook County Hospitals immediately," says a discharge slip for a man with a broken jaw.
"Go to Cook County ER to be evaluated for admission," reads a discharge slip for a man with a tumor.
"Follow up at Cook County Hospital for uterine tumor surgery," says another discharge slip brought into Stroger, which still is referred to by many as the county hospital.
Nonprofit hospitals, meanwhile, reap millions of dollars in property and sales tax breaks from the county, based largely on the promise that they'll help the uninsured.....
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Are hospitals passing off their low-profit patients? - tribunedigital-chicagotribune