New study will focus on impact of Catholic healthcare growth

The increased dominance of Catholic health systems and how they affect access to certain services will be the focus of a report due out this week.

Catholic facilities have come under scrutiny because their care policies are governed by U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Ethical and Religious Directives.

MergerWatch, a New York-based group that advocates against religious interference in medical decisions, plans to update its 2002 “No Strings Attached” report, which found that religious institutions represented 18% of hospital beds and receive half of their revenue from government payers. At the same time, that report argued, some of these hospitals bar access to reproductive health services, limit end-of-life choices for terminally ill patients and restrict sexual health counseling to abstinence-only education.

As Catholic systems have grown in size through mergers and acquisitions, MergerWatch has received numerous requests for an updated report. Modern Healthcare's 2013 Systems Survey, using 2012 data, found that five of the 10 largest systems by hospital count were Catholic. A sixth, Dignity Health, had recently shed its Catholic identity.

Lori Freedman, a researcher at University of California, San Francisco, who has studied religiously affiliated hospitals, cited a study that found 52% of OB-GYNs at Catholic institutions reported having conflicts with hospital policy. The conflicts involved not only sterilizations and abortions, but also management of miscarriages and ectopic pregnancies.

The issue is sensitive for Catholic healthcare leaders, who say they provide all medically necessary services but do not provide elective services such as abortion that are inconsistent with the bishops' directives.

Follow Beth Kutscher on Twitter: @MHbkutscher