The denial or limitation of the provision of medical care to, or the transfer elsewhere of, patients who are not able to pay or for which the payment method (for example, the prospective payment system (PPS)) does not pay the hospital enough to cover its costs. Laws intended to prevent dumping typically prohibit the transfer of patients if the transfer cannot be justified by medical necessity.
In medical care, the practice of transferring a patient who is unable to pay for care to a hospital that accepts such patients.