The concept of safety-net hospitals (SNHs) is familiar with most physicians. Briefly, a SNH has a mission or mandate of serving low-income populations regardless of patients' insurance, or lack thereof. The exact details of what actually constitutes a SNH is murky, at best. To this point, there are publications looking at definitions of what constitute a safety net hospital . In 2000, the Institute of Medicine defined safety-net hospitals (SNHs) as hospitals that, by mission or mandate, provide care to a substantial share of vulnerable patients regardless of their ability to pay . According to this definition, any number of public hospitals, community or major academic medical centers may be designated as SNHs. Some reading this article may reflect on the socioeconomic status of their patients and wonder if they are practicing within the walls of a SNH. Serving a medically underserved population is challenging for health systems financially, and without adequate supplemental funding, likely non-sustainable. Furthermore, medical outcomes in this population have been sub-optimal compared with the general population.