BOSTON -- Hospitals in Massachusetts are known for the quality of care they provide, but in order to compete with one another they need money.

NewsCenter 5's Rhonda Mann reported that in an ailing health care system, that money has been less easy to come by, but there are some creative ways medical centers are raising dollars.

At the Bus Stop Pub in Allston, your money can buy you a beer, an Elvis tune and, on this particular night, part of a new emergency room.

"It's the opportunity for the hospital to come into the neighborhood," said Maurice Sullivan, a St. Elizabeth's Medical Center trustee.

Caritas St. Elizabeth's Medical Center needs to raise $2 million to update its ER, built in the 1950s, with the latest technology. To do it, they're asking the community to pitch in with raffles and community nights.

"People are lacking medical insurance. We anticipate our volume is going to grow drastically in the upcoming years. And we want to make sure our doors are always open," St. Elizabeth's spokeswoman Heidi Bergmeyer said.

Fund-raising is becoming more creative. More than half of all hospitals in Massachusetts are losing money, and money is exactly what is needed to stay competitive.

"Hospitals are scrambling for equipment. They're scrambling for money. They're scrambling for programs to try to attract profitable patients," Boston University School of Public Health Dr. Alan Sager said.

It's not just the small hospitals. Chrysler head Lee Iacocca, whose wife suffered from diabetes, has raised $100,000 for research at Massachusetts General Hospital through a Web site.

"I decided to hit the marble to the Internet and get diabetics to send me $10 a piece," he said.

Sager said that we'll see more of this pitching to the public -- although he's not sure it will do much good, mostly because consumers are fed up with the rising costs of medical care.

"The days when a hospital could put up a big thermometer on the front lawn and try to raise money through the community -- those days are far gone," he said.