Community Benefit

Community Benefit

 

William Bee Ririe Critical Access Hospital is a public not-for-profit hospital district that continually works to meet the healthcare needs of our community regardless of the patient’s ability to pay.  As a non-for-profit organization, any net income we earn is reinvested in replacing and expanding services for the communities we serve, as opposed to for profit organizations that distribute earnings to individual owners and shareholders.

 

Our not-for-profit status brings with it certain benefits, as well as some accompanying challenges and responsibilities.

 

The key benefits are:

 

            •  Receive tax support.

            •  Our exemption from income and taxes and some property taxes.

            •  Our ability to be a recipient of philanthropic donations and government grants.

 

The primary challenge is the difficulty of raising adequate capital to fund infrastructure and keep pace with technological advancements since we can’t accept private investments or sell shares of stock.  And the heaviest responsibility is bearing the cost of continually improving not only the quality of care for individual patients, but also access to care for the elderly, the poor and the uninsured.

 

Our Focus is Long Term

 

Because William Bee Ririe Critical Access Hospital is a not-for-profit provider, we strive to maximize the resources available in our community.  This means that we focus on prevention and treatment of patients at the appropriate most cost effective level of care.  For example, we provide primary care to the low and no pay patients so they don’t have to access their primary care in higher cost settings, such as the emergency room.  We continually strive to find new ways to keep people healthy and ways to return them to health more quickly after injury or illness.

 

A Complex Balancing Act

 

These challenges and responsibilities combine to make the delivery of healthcare services a complex and delicate balancing act.  This means investing resources in developing information systems that will put patient records at physicians’ fingertips to help them improve clinical outcomes.  It means working with high schools and colleges to prepare more young people for careers in healthcare, to alleviate personnel shortages that otherwise will cripple our services in the decades ahead.

 

In short, being a not-for-profit healthcare organization means we strive to do what’s in the long-term best interest of the people we serve, just as a doctor would for a patient.  Our goal cannot be popularity or even freedom from controversy.  It has to be community well-being.

 

Business Objectives Support Community Benefit

 

As a not-for-profit health care provider, William Bee Ririe Critical Access Hospital/Rural Health Clinic has one overriding purpose – to make a genuine difference in the many lives we touch by optimizing our patients’ healthcare experience.  We set a variety of business objectives to meet that purpose.  These objectives fall into two broad categories:  finding better ways to work, and create better value to offer our patients, employees and community.  As we identify and achieve our specific objectives in these areas, we succeed in generating the income we need to fulfill our mission.

 

What is Community Benefit?

 

Community benefit is a term that describes the services that are provided to the community for the community, not the hospital.  They focus on identified community needs and must meet one of the following:

 

            •  Generates a low or negative margin.

            •  Responds to needs of special populations, such as persons living in poverty.

            •  Supplies services or programs that would likely be discontinued or would need to be provided by

                or government provider if the decision was made on a purely financial basis.

            •  Responds to public health needs.

 

Components of William Bee Ririe Critical Access Hospital/Rural Health Clinic’s Benefit Program

 

The essential components of William Bee Ririe Critical Access Hospital/Rural Health Clinic’s  Community Benefit programs reflect the organization’s processes and infrastructure to effectively manage this effort.  This includes:

 

            •  A sustainable infrastructure with a dedicated plan for community benefit services.

            •  Determining what can be counted as a community benefit activity.

            •  Accounting for community benefits that are provided.

            •  Evaluating community benefit programs.

            •  Communicate the services and outcomes.

 

Standards for Community Benefit Services

 

The state of Nevada requires all hospitals to file an annual report on uncompensated services performed by the Hospital.  In fiscal year 2010, $1.2 million was paid in uncompensated services. 

 

William Bee Ririe Critical Access Hospital has been taking care of eastern Nevadans for generations, and has been an integral part of the community for 105 years.  Our purpose is simple – to make a genuine difference in the many lives we touch by optimizing our patients’ healthcare experiences.

 

William Bee Ririe Critical Access Hospital/Rural Health Clinics’ Health’s Community Benefit Report demonstrates our commitment to providing programs and services that promote health and healing as a response to indentified community needs.

 

The numbers speak to our commitment.  In fiscal year 2011 William Bee Ririe Critical Access Hospital/Rural Health Clinic’s Community Benefit was in excess of $1.6 million.  This includes money to subsidize the healthcare costs for those least able to pay for their care, preventative health screenings, as well as flu and pneumonia vaccines.

 

These two combined methodologies, uncompensated and charity care constitute the annual Nevada community benefit reporting.

 

Copyright © 2012, William Bee Ririe, All rights reserved.