Big NYC Hospitals Spend a Sliver of Funds on Charity Care

Some of New York City’s highest-earning nonprofit hospitals spent less 2 percent of their revenue on free care for the uninsured, the New York Post reports, citing the most recent tax filings by three major medical centers.

NewYork-Presbyterian, the city’s wealthiest hospital with $3.9-billion in revenue in 2012, spent 1.03 percent of that amount on free care. NYU Langone Medical Center and Lenox Hill Hospital administered charity treatment worth 0.69 percent and 0.57 percent of their revenue, respectively.

All three institutions paid top executives more than $2-million that year, according to the Post. The hospitals “would rather put the money into their salaries,” said Anthony Feliciano, head of the Commission on the Public’s Health System, an advocacy group. The hospitals said they do not turn away poor patients and provide additional community benefits besides free care, including subsidized treatment for Medicaid patients and free health screenings.