Virginia hospitals provide $2.85 billion in community support

Virginia hospitals and health systems provided $2.85 billion in community benefit and other types of community support in 2014, according to a new report by the Virginia Hospital & Healthcare Association. They also employ 115,000 people, generate $36 billion in economic activity, and support local businesses and vendors, the report adds. Yet those benefits are imperiled, write VHHA Board Chairman James Cole and President and CEO Sean Connaughton in the report. “From 2008-2014, the annual rate of Virginia acute care hospitals with negative operating margins has ranged from 38% to 25%,” they note. “Among rural acute care hospitals, the range is 63% to 42%...It is vitally important to find long-term solutions to the pressures confronting hospitals for the good of all Virginians.”