Changes in Health Care Financing and Organization Deriving Best Practice Models for the US Health Care Safety Net: A Cross-State Meta Analysis of Finance, Organization and Outcomes

One in six Americans is uninsured, underinsured, a Medicaid beneficiary, or a patient with special health care needs. These individuals obtain healthcare access (as well as the care itself) through a complex patchwork of institutions, financing sources, and programs that are collectively characterized as the nation’s “healthcare safety net.” However, the fact that it is portrayed as an existing network should not disguise the fact that this “system” is neither comprehensive, nor integrated.