Unhealthy Profits

FROM THE ARTICLE: At the end of November 2023, the New York Times published an editorial: Why Are Nonprofit Hospitals Focused More on Dollars Than Patients? It is certainly a valid question. Most people might assume that not-for-profit (NFP) organisations focus on providing a public benefit rather than profit. At most, common wisdom suggests that any income derived from providing a service should be reinvested into expanding or improving the service. There is no obvious reason why a NFP should accumulate large profits over years. Yet in the NFP world of large US hospitals, profit, rather than public purpose, seems to have become the guiding light.