Pitt Public Health Analysis Provides Guidance on Hospital Community Benefit Programs
Targeted News Service |
A new analysis led by the
In a special issue of the
"Hospitals have long provided uncompensated care to people who could not otherwise afford it, and this in part has justified their nonprofit status. One goal of the ACA is to provide health insurance to more individuals, thereby potentially reducing uncompensated care," said lead author
Dr. Burke and her colleagues note that "community health needs assessments," which are required by the ACA and rely on large surveys and input from community stakeholders, including minorities and underserved populations, can provide information to help guide the development of community benefit programs, as well as provide data needed to assess their impact.
By evaluating 106 scientific articles detailing hospital-based community benefit programs, Dr. Burke and her colleagues were able to categorize the programs into those based in the hospital and those administered at a community facility, finding that the programs were split almost evenly.
Hospital-based programs typically included preventative screenings or health education. Outside the hospitals, the programs included hospital after-care and benefits and coverage counseling, but were largely community-based programs, either with or without a community partner organization, such as a local school or community center.
"More than 80 percent of the community-based programs included a community partner, which can facilitate greater reach into a community," said Dr. Burke. "The more you can engage the community in the benefit programs you are trying to provide, the greater the likelihood of a positive outcome."
The analysis reinforces the value hospitals and health systems can derive from partnering with public health professionals to design their community health needs assessments and determine the best community benefit programs to address those needs, said senior author
"Public health researchers add methodological rigor and experience with a range of evidence-based interventions to hospital community health implementation strategies," said
UPMC worked with Dr. Burke and her colleagues at
Additional authors on this research include
Funding for this research was provided by Pitt's
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