Skiff Medical Center provides $1,513,610 in community benefits to Jasper County, according to a recently completed assessment of those programs and services. That amount, based on figures from the 2014 fiscal year, includes $1,236,131 in uncompensated care and $252,858 in free or discounted community benefits Skiff specifically implemented to help Jasper County residents.
Community benefits are activities designed to improve health status and increase access to health care. Along with uncompensated care (which includes both charity care and bad debt), community benefits include such services and programs as health screenings, educational services, support groups, counseling, immunizations, nutritional services and transportation programs.
The results for Skiff are included in a statewide report by the Iowa Hospital Association that shows Iowa hospitals provided community benefits in 2014 valued at more than $1.2 billion, including more than $289 million in charity care.
The programs and services accounted for in the survey were implemented in direct response to the needs of individual communities as well as entire counties and regions. According to the IHA, many of these programs and services simply would not exist without hospital support and leadership.
These efforts, along with IHA’s ongoing advocacy to create fairer payment methodologies from Medicare and Medicaid, help ensure the financial stability of hospitals, making it possible for them to provide the services and programs most needed by their communities.