Patient, Nurse Outcomes Worse With For-Profit Hospital Status

TUESDAY, Oct. 20, 2026 (HealthDay News) -- For-profit hospital status is associated with worse patient and nurse outcomes, which is partially accounted for by differences in nurse staffing, according to a study published online Sept. 3 in Medical Care.Matthew D. McHugh, Ph.D., J.D., M.P.H., R.N., from the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing in Philadelphia, and colleagues conducted a cross-sectional study using 2024 data to examine whether differences in nurse staffing mediate associations between for-profit hospital ownership and patient, nurse, and hospital outcomes. Data were included for 143 for-profit and 798 nonprofit adult, nonfederal, acute care hospitals across 10 U.S. states, with more than 1.17 million Medicare fee-for-service admissions, and 17,368 direct-care bedside registered nurses.The researchers found that for-profit ownership was associated with 0.48 percentage-point higher 30-day mortality among surgical patients; 45 percent was mediated via staffing. Thirty-day mortality was 1.13 percentage points higher among medical patients, with 40 percent mediated by staffing. Similar findings were seen for readmission. Worse Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems was seen in association with for-profit status (−4.45 percentage points), with 31 percent mediated by staffing. Burnout in nurses was 9 percent higher, with 67 percent mediated by staffing."Treating safe nurse staffing as a core component of quality rather than a discretionary operating expense is especially important where incentives to cut labor costs are strongest," McHugh said in a statement. "Minimum safe staffing requirements and ownership transparency are practical safeguards for patients and nurses."Abstract/Full Text.Sign up for our weekly HealthDay newsletter

Patient, Nurse Outcomes Worse With For-Profit Hospital Status

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