The Delaware Healthcare Association’s latest Community Benefits Report details some hospitals’ contributions to the first state.
The Association recently released its 2022 report, showing Delaware hospitals contributed about $978 million statewide in fiscal year 2020.
The report serves as a tool for policy makers, hospitals, consumers, and the broader healthcare community, by explaining how hospitals provide economic and public health benefits to the State of Delaware.
Group Chairman and Chief Executive Wayne Smith explains in part what that number reflects.
“Not only do we do that with acute care, but we also try to address some of the underlying factors that can affect health in communities,” he said. “So it’s everything from contributions to local food banks to enrolling in many government health care programs like Medicare and Medicaid that don’t cover the cost.”
Smith notes that Delaware hospitals were responsible for paying $662.29 million in unpaid Medicare, Medicaid and Tricare costs.
“Some of the most important things Delaware hospitals provide in terms of community benefits are – engagement with public health insurance programs such as Medicaid and Medicare; they do not cover the costs of care, so it is a contribution that we make. Every hospital has programs for people in need, where they can work with them to pay for any care they might need in a hospital,” he said.
Smith adds that it’s also the job of hospitals to make sure Delawares have healthier opportunities in the communities where they live so they can avoid medical issues that could land them in the hospital.
Delaware hospitals also make significant economic contributions to the state: employing 22,797 people, supporting more than 47,978 jobs, and adding $6.93 billion to the state’s economy through economic output.
