Faced with enormous expenses, even publicly financed hospitals occasionally are reluctant to care for patients who cannot pay. But they will have to provide such care whether they want to or not. Elliot Richardson, Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare, last week ordered all hospitals receiving federal funds under the 1946 Hill-Burton Act to provide a minimum level of free services for the poor. The directive affects 6,308 health-care facilities, including half of the nation's hospitals, and is quite specific. Not less than 5% of an institution's operating costs and not less...
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