Report: Oregon hospitals provided $2 billion in community benefit

The Oregon Association of Hospitals and Health System (OAHHS) released a report last week showing that in 2016, Oregon hospitals provided $2.19 billion in community benefit to the communities they serve.
From training medical professionals, to funding critical health research, to sponsoring wellness events, hospitals increased spending in state-defined community benefit categories other than charity care by $400 million in 2016, as compared with average levels over the previous three years. This increase continues to fulfill a pledge from early 2015, in which hospitals announced they would offset drops in charity care, as a result in Medicaid expansion, by investing in other state-defined community benefit categories. The statewide total of $2.19 billion was a record high.
“We are very proud of Oregon hospitals’ continued community commitment,” said Andy Van Pelt, executive Vice President of the Oregon Association of Hospitals and Health Systems. “The numbers reflect the profound health needs in our communities that hospitals are addressing. It shows that hospitals continue to go beyond providing high-quality care for the sick and injured and indeed work to the health of communities outside the four walls of the hospital.”
Analysis of the data shows that total community benefit has increased 49 percent from 2010 to 2016 – rising from $1.47 billion in 2010 to $2.19 billion in 2016. Significant subcategory program increases from 2010 to 2016 include:
•Community building, which include programs that provide opportunities to address root causes of health problems, such as poverty, homelessness, and environmental problems, increased by a significant 150 percent; •Community health improvement, which includes school health-education programs, web-based consumer health information, and worksite health education programs, increased by 10 percent; •Research increased 12 percent; •Health professions education increased eight percent; and •Subsidized health services increased nine percent.