August 9, 2006
There are hundreds of ways in which hospitals give back to their communities, including services that generate little or no revenue, such as emergency, neonatal, and trauma care; free screenings; support of clinics that provide care for the indigent; health and wellness programs; and other initiatives that improve residents' health. These charitable endeavors meet the healthcare needs of residents, particularly those who otherwise would be unable to afford such services, and enhance quality of life for the entire community. Initiatives such as this fall under the umbrella of community benefit.
But documenting, quantifying and communicating the community benefit that hospitals provide is a challenge for many hospitals.
Define
One of the biggest challenges that hospitals face when it comes to documentation is defining what community benefit is--and recording examples within their systems. Charity care is just one example of the community benefit that hospitals provide.
Quantify
So how do you capture all of the examples of community benefit within your not-for-profit hospital -- and what do you do with this information once you have it?
The Catholic Health Association of the United States, VHA, Inc., and Lyon Software took the lead in establishing standards for quantifying community benefit in their 1998 publication, Social Accountability Budget: A Process for Planning and Reporting Community Service in a Time of Fiscal Constraint. The guidelines were revised in a 2004 resource manual, Community Benefit Reporting: Guidelines and Standard Definitions for the Community Benefit Inventory for Social Accountability. Today, this comprehensive report serves as a model for many organizations in determining what community benefit is, how to calculate the costs of community benefit, and guidelines for financial reporting.
"The same rigor we apply to measuring outcomes in the practice of medicine and in running the operations of the hospital should be applied to community benefit planning," said Michael Blaszyk, executive vice president and CFO, Catholic Healthcare West, part of the Catholic Health Association. "There are tools available to help record community benefit activity. These tools, together with a clear understanding of what counts as community benefit and what does not, and a focused call to improve quality of life, will lead to a successful, well-developed community benefit program."
Communicate
Staff education and frequent reminders to document community benefit can also prove helpful. "Each year gets easier as everyone becomes more familiar with the process and has a better understanding of the importance of collecting and maintaining records," said Lyn Hester, vice president, community services, INTEGRIS Health. "The more people know what to collect and how to collect the information, the easier it becomes."
There are a number of ways that not-for-profit hospitals can share the story of the community benefit they provide within the communities they serve:
- Create an annual community benefit report.
- Put a human face on the community benefit your system provides.
- Make sure the information is easily accessible to board members, senior leadership, and managers, who can then use this information in community presentations.
- Use paid advertising to reinforce the message of ways in which the hospital is giving back to the community.
CFOs can enhance community benefit reporting by:
- Educating managers on what community benefit is, and how to document it
- Generating excitement among staff about the community benefit that the organization provides, so that employees will be more likely to document examples of community benefit
- Providing quarterly reminders to staff on the need to document community benefit
- Simplifying the way in which managers record this information
- Recognizing staff and physicians for exemplary commitment to community benefit initiatives
SOURCE: "Telling the Story of Community Benefit," January 2006, hfm
Additional Resources
If you have questions or comments about HFMA Wants You to Know, contact editor Maxine Harrison.
HFMA Wants You to Know ISSN: 1540-0697. Volume V, Issue 17. Copyright 2006, Healthcare Financial Management Association. All rights reserved.