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Community Benefit

Engaging our communities to improve quality of life

The mission of HSHS is to reveal and embody Christ’s healing love for all people through our high-quality Franciscan health care ministry. We live our mission by healing those who seek our care, as well as through our community benefit initiatives. Working collaboratively with others in the 14 communities we serve, our community benefit efforts are successfully expanding access to care, improving the health status of residents, and furthering medical education and knowledge.

Across HSHS, we collectively provide tens of millions of dollars in community benefit each year. The percentage of community benefit we provide typically approaches 10 percent of our total expenses. We calculate our community benefit investments by including what we provide in charity care and the cost of care that is unreimbursed care provided under the Medicaid program. While HSHS hospitals also commit significant resources to care for Medicare patients, we do not count unreimbursed care under this federal program as community benefit. Nor do we count uncollectible accounts.

Beyond the dollars invested in our community benefit programs, HSHS also continues to reinvest any surplus revenue from operations and investments into new medical technology, facility infrastructure and health care services in our communities. By doing do, we ensure we are able to meet the ongoing demand for high-quality, efficient and easily accessible health care.

Community Health Needs Assessments

Provisions in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) require charitable hospitals to conduct a Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA) and adopt an Implementation Plan to meet the needs identified through the CHNA. The CHNA is a systematic process involving the community to identify and analyze community health needs as well as community assets and resources in order to plan and act upon priority community health needs. This assessment process results in a CHNA report which is used to plan, implement, and evaluate community benefit activities. Once the CHNA report is completed, a set of implementation strategies is developed based on the evidence and assets and resources identified in the CHNA process.

Every three years, the affiliated hospitals of HSHS are required to conduct a CHNA and to adopt an implementation plan by an authorized body of the hospital in the same taxable year, and make the report widely available to the public.

Identification and prioritization of needs

In FY2022, nine priority areas were identified by the 15 affiliated hospitals including: child maltreatment; substance abuse; mental health; diabetes and obesity; access to care; maternal infant health; behavioral health; chronic disease management and prevention; physical activity and nutrition. To review each hospital’s FY2022 Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA) and Implementation Plan in its entirety, please click on the button below.

Please note that a paper copy is also available for public inspection without charge at each hospital.

Catholic Health Association

Community benefits are programs and services designed to improve health in communities and increase access to health care. They are integral to the mission of Catholic and other not-for-profit health care organizations, and are the basis of tax exemption. For nearly 20 years, the Catholic Health Association has been a leader in the community benefit field, helping not‑for-profit health care organizations fulfill their community benefit mission.

Internal Revenue Service

The Internal Revenue Service has a varitey of options when it comes to supporting non-profit organizations that contribute to community benefit.