Benefits to Communities
The mission of all hospitals and health systems, regardless of size and type of ownership, is to care for their patients and communities. In addition to providing financial assistance to those in need, hospitals have programs that are responsive to their community’s needs. These community benefits include help with housing, accessing healthy food, educational programs, health screenings, transportation to ensure patients arrive at needed medical appointments, vaccination clinics and other programs to address the many other needs that affect the community’s health and well-being.
Reports and Resources
- New EY Analysis Shows Nonprofit Hospitals’ Value to Communities 11 Times Their Federal Tax Exemption
- Tax-exempt Hospitals Provided $149 Billion in Total Benefits to Their Communities
- AHA Schedule H Project: 2022 Tax Year Benchmark Report
- Nonprofit Hospital Community Benefits: Addressing Each Community’s Unique Needs
- EY Analysis Shows Nonprofit Hospitals’ Value to Communities 10 Times Their Federal Tax Exemption
- Letter Responding to Report on Tax-exempt Hospitals
Caring For Our Communities: Voices From the Field
Community Benefit in Action
Discover how organizations across the U.S. are improving community health and reducing health disparities.
Boston Medical Center has developed numerous programs and services, including housing and legal support, that help address some of the root causes of medical issues, with the goal of improving health outcomes for area residents.
Through Children's Hospital Los Angeles’s 2022 Community Health Needs Assessment Youth Photovoice Project, more than 150 young Angelenos got to communicate their own perspective on the wellbeing of their neighborhoods though the lens of a camera.
Our Lady of the Lakes Regional Medical Center (OLOLRMC) is among the founders of Healthy BR, a regional approach to identify and share resources, programs, initiatives, and opportunities for collaboration across a wide range of areas and industries to address health priorities.
Titus Regional Medical Center prioritizes direct community engagement and leadership accessibility in its 2022 Community Health Needs Assessment to address key health challenges in rural East Texas.
Serving New York City, NYU Langone leverages data-driven strategies and key partnerships to address the improve health outcomes, promote disease prevention, and address the distinct needs of its many unique neighborhoods.
Focusing on Community Needs to Improve Health
Houston-based Memorial Hermann, winner of the 2023 Foster G. McGaw Prize, focuses on four pillars (access to care; emotional well-being; healthy food; exercise as medicine) to improve community health.
Caring for Community Outside Hospital Walls
Norman Regional Health System in Oklahoma runs a food pharmacy, staffs a community call center and uses a community health navigator to link patients to services.
Click to view this infographic from Owensboro Health.