Prodded by one of its physicians, Baptist Health South Florida has decided to give preferential status to suppliers who provide health insurance to their employees.

The move appears to be the first of its kind in South Florida and one of the few in the nation by a nongovernmental body.

The effect could be widespread because Baptist has more than 10,000 vendors.

“This is very interesting,” said Paul Ginsburg, president of the Center for Studying Health System Change, a Washington think tank. “It pursues a social goal . . . but it’s probably going to boost their bottom line, too.” Baptist Hospital was begun by the Miami Baptist Association, but the hospitals are no longer associated with the church.

The reason is that all hospitals, including the five in Baptist’s system, end up footing the bill for care for the uninsured. Baptist Health had to write off $363 million in gross charges for charity care and uncompensated services in fiscal year 2005.

For the past year, congressional committees have been taking hard looks at prosperous nonprofits and questioning whether they do enough in their communities to warrant their nonprofit status.

Baptist Health has the most financially strong hospitals in South Florida, earning a ”net surplus” of $193 million in fiscal year 2005. Baptist says it spends the money on community-oriented improvements, including two new facilities in the Miami-Dade area.

Nationally, 47 million people don’t have health insurance, and the problem is particularly severe in South Florida. In Miami-Dade, 26.8 percent are without coverage. Next door in Broward County, it’s 16.6 percent.