RT Journal
A1 Larkin GL, Marco CA, Fields W
T1 MAnaged care, charity care, and the common good
JF JAMA
JO JAMA
YR 1999
FD November 3
VO 282
IS 17
SP 1619
OP 1621
DO 10-1001/pubs.JAMA-ISSN-0098-7484-282-17-jbk1103
UL http://dx.doi.org/10-1001/pubs.JAMA-ISSN-0098-7484-282-17-jbk1103
AB 
We would like to comment on the theoretical concern of the authors that
"more of the burden of providing indigent care could be shifted onto the major
safety net providers. . . . "1 This concern
is not merely theoretical—it is already a reality, with growing ramifications.
The burden of uncompensated care increasingly falls on emergency physicians,
who, because of long-standing ethical traditions and legal obligations, provide
more than $425 million in uncompensated costs, annually, in professional services
for 16.7 million emergency department visits made by the uninsured.2- 3 Comparative analysis reveals
that group practice physicians provide an average of approximately $20,000
per year in uncompensated care, while emergency physicians provide an average
of more than $100,000 per physician per year in uncompensated care.4