Understanding Community
Benefits
Because of the uniqueness of each
community, hospitals report need-based programs and services during the data collection
process.
Community benefits are programs and
services that address identified health care, social and welfare needs of the
community and individuals who make up the community. These benefits provide measurable
improvement in health care access, health status, or the use of health care resources.
In addition, programs and services considered as community
benefits should support one or more of the following:
—
The hospital’s community-based mission.
—
The problems of the poor or medically underserved.
—
The health status of the identified community.
—
Community health costs.
— The entire target
community regardless of ability to pay.
—
Partnerships within the community. The IHA Hospital
Community Benefits Survey collects information covering community benefit programs
and services as defined under both traditional and nontraditional benefits.
Traditional community benefits are a nonprofit hospital’s
commitment to provide needed health care services to all in the community, regardless
of ability to pay. Traditional community benefits include losses recorded as charity
care and bad debts, often described as uncompensated care. Medicare and Medicaid
losses also fall into the realm of these benefits.
Nontraditional
community benefits are programs and services offered by Iowa’s community
hospitals and are designed to improve health status and increase access to care
in the community, outside the walls of the hospital.
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Hospital Survey Coordinator ResourcesThe
2006 IHA Community benefits survey will be open for Iowa hospital survey submission
from September 13 thru November 15.
PLEASE NOTE
THAT THE OUTLINE OF THE COMMUNITY BENEFITS SURVEY HAS CHANGED. The survey is now
organized under the section headings used in the CHA/VHA publication "A Guide
for Planning and Reporting Community Benefit."
All
of last year's categories and choices are in this year's survey, but they may
be in different locations. A cross-walk document was provided to each primary
survey contact, and it is also available in the resources below.
Note
to Critical Access Hospitals
The Iowa Hospital
Association recently requested a legal opinion (August 2006) from an area law
firm regarding the question of whether there is possible conflict of Iowa Critical
Access hospitals (CAH) reporting on the IHA Community Benefits Survey and Iowa
CAH reporting of costs on their Medicare cost report for determining their Medicare
cost based reimbursement. The legal opinion has been issued and states that there
is no conflict and that Iowa CAHs are able and encouraged to fully account for
their community benefits services on the IHA Community Benefits Survey.
Survey Coordinator Resources:
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