The Ohio Hospital Association has released its annual community benefit report, which details $2.6 billion in charity care and other benefits the state's hospitals provide to local communities.
The OHA releases a statewide community benefit report annually. The 2010 report uses 2008 data, the most recent year for which data is available. This year, 185 hospitals participated in the report.
The 2010 OHA community benefit report lists contributions including:
- $999.1 million in charity care
- $1 billion in Medicaid subsidization
- $1.2 billion in community benefit activities
Charity care is care provided for free or at a substantial discount to those unable to pay. Over half of the free care provided by Ohio hospitals – $511.4 million – is provided to patients with incomes above the federal poverty limit. Charity care in Ohio increased by 12 percent from 2007 to 2008.
The $1 billion in Medicaid losses covers the difference between what Medicaid pays for services and the actual cost hospitals incurred. Medicaid losses recorded a 20 percent hike over the previous year, the report notes, when hospitals spent $835.7 million to cover the Medicaid shortfall.
The $1.2 billion in community activities includes medical services provided at no-cost or low-cost to patients, educational programs to improve health, research to find new cures and better medical treatments and education for new generations of physicians, nurses and other medical professionals.
The OHA report also notes that Ohio hospitals pumped $67.8 billion into the state's economy in 2008 and collectively provided jobs for 576,113 people either directly or indirectly.
Not included in the official total of $2.6 billion are the financial contributions hospitals make to subsidize bad debt – a $655.3 million total – and Medicare losses – a $877.1 million shortfall. These elements are noted in the report but not as part of the community benefit total in accordance with Catholic Health Association guidelines, the nationally recognized standard on community benefit reporting.
Medicare Disproportionate Share Hospital reimbursement and Hospital Care Assurance Program reimbursement were subtracted from the $3.2 billion combined total to equal the $2.6 billion in total net community benefit.
The OHA modeled its report on the Catholic Health Association’s A Guide for Planning and Reporting Community Benefit to obtain the hospital-reported information including: community activities, charity care, and Medicaid losses, as well as, Medicare losses and bad debt. Economic impact data was provided to the OHA by the American Hospital Association.