Ohio Hospitals Report Less Charity Care, More Local Benefit

Three nonprofit hospital networks in central Ohio reported spending a record amount on community benefits in the 2013 fiscal year, but traditional charity care is taking up less of that pie, according to The Columbus Dispatch.

Nationwide Children’s Hospital, OhioHealth, and Ohio State University’s Wexner Medical Center spent a combined $531.5-million to serve the community in the 12 months ending June 30. A growing share of that total comes from making up gaps between what the facilities spend to treat Medicaid patients and what they receive in reimbursements, a trend likely to continue as repayment rates drop, the Dispatch writes.

Local health efforts and research can also be counted toward benefit totals. Charity care—treatment hospitals provide to poor, uninsured patients without expectation of payment—now represents about 30 percent of the three groups’ community-benefit spending.