Inpatient transfers and uncompensated care.

A number of commentators have recently argued that the practice of patient dumping is on the increase. While the evidence in support of that contention tends to be anecdotal, it has reached a volume sufficient to precipitate legislative action. In this article, we will differentiate the concepts of patient transfer and dump and present an empirical examination of a sample of inpatient transfers including descriptions of patient, hospital, episode, and compensation characteristics.