Matching mission
with accountability
2014
COMMUNITY BENEFIT
Last year Baylor Scott & White Health provided more than
$700 million in community benefit through charity healthcare,
community programs, and research, representing almost
13 percent of its total revenue. Programs range from
education and wellness to clinical care benefiting cancer,
diabetes, heart patients, and many others.
HEART
WELLNESS
RESEARCH
DIABETES
$702
EDUCATION
MILLION
CLINICAL CARE
CHARITY CARE
CANCER
26
THE CATALYST December 15 | sw.org
Every three years, not-for-profit hospital
systems are required to analyze the
needs of their communities to identify
what programs and facilities can have
the biggest impact on public health.
Accountability is ensured through strict
regulatory requirements at both the
state and federal levels. A plan must be
developed and an Annual Report filed
with the state. In order to maintain
the not-for-profit designation with
the IRS, the organization is required
to file a progress report annually on
implementation of programs to meet
identified community health needs.
Not-for-profit hospitals also must
offer care when needed; they operate
the majority of trauma centers and
emergency rooms in the United States,
and cannot refuse services to injured or
sick patients regardless of their ability
to pay.
Most importantly, not-for-profit
hospitals ensure that all patients
receive access to care no matter what
kind of insurance, if any, they carry.
Providing high-level doctors and
technology brings access to leadingedge healthcare and clinical trials to the
communities served.
With the recent introduction of
the Patient Protection and Affordable
Care Act, the entire healthcare
industry began to think differently
about its role in delivering care. In
this “new era of healthcare” incentives
to keep people healthy and out of the
hospital have changed the industry’s