Posted on December 8th, 2022.

The Delaware Healthcare Association’s 2022 Community Benefits Report found the state’s hospitals and health systems provided nearly $978 million in community benefit spending to communities in Fiscal Year 2020.

The $978 million included charity care, bad debt, losses on government sponsored health insurance and supporting an array of programs benefitting their local communities throughout the state, according to the association.

The report, a biennial look at the public health and economic benefits of Delaware hospitals and health systems, also found the COVID-19 pandemic impacted hospitals’ finances.

The state’s hospitals operating margin was -3.8% for fiscal year 2020 without federal COVID-19 relief. Statewide hospital operating margin was just above the break-even point at 0.34% when including federal assistance.

“Regardless of the challenges faced during the COVID-19 pandemic, Delaware hospitals and health systems continued to make significant investments in the health and well-being of all Delawareans,” said association president Wayne A. Smith in a statement. “Delaware’s nonprofit hospitals deliver high-quality healthcare services to everyone who walks through our front doors, 24 hours a day and regardless of ability to pay. They also invest millions of dollars in programs and services that reach beyond hospital walls to advance the health of our population and address unmet needs in the community.”

The breakdown of the $978 million in community benefit spending was $775.66 million in unpaid costs of patient care and $202.2 million in community benefit services and programs that aim to advance health or address unmet community needs. The $775.66 million unpaid costs of patient care involved $47.85 million in charity care, $65.5 millions in bad debt and $662.29 million in unpaid costs from Medicare, Medicaid and Tricare.

The report posted several examples of community benefit programs and initiatives developed by Delaware hospitals and health systems:

• Ensuring a bright future for everyone through Project SEARCH (Bayhealth)
• Providing access to COVID-19 vaccines via the “Bookmobile” mobile clinic (Beebe Healthcare)
• Reaching the most vulnerable with grants from the Community Investment Fund (ChristianaCare)
• Reducing risk of severe illness through vaccination with the Drive-Thru Flu Clinic (TidalHealth Nanticoke)
• Supporting each child’s whole health by working with community partners, investing in equity and inclusion, providing school-based health care, and giving back though volunteering (Nemours Children’s Health)
• Fostering partnerships for the public good with the new Healthy Village (Saint Francis Hospital)
• Incorporating whole health in veteran care (Wilmington VA Medical Center).

Delaware hospitals spent over $3.9 billion on goods and services from other businesses, according to the economic impact of the report. The association said with these “ripple effects” each hospital job supports about two additional jobs and every dollar spent by a hospital supports $1.60 of additional business activity. The effect of hospital expenditures on total state economic output is over $6.93 billion, per the report.

• Hospital Jobs: 22,797
• Average Salary: $86,999
• State and Local Taxes Paid: $68,189,739
• Hospitals support 47,978 jobs in Delaware (10.74% of jobs in the State) and generate $6.9 billion in economic activity.

Source: Bay to Bay News.