09/17/2022

The following excerpt is from Delaware Public Media. 
The full article and radio clip can be found at https://www.delawarepublic.org/delaware-headlines/2022-09-17/delaware-healthcare-association-releases-2022-community-benefits-report


Delaware Healthcare Association releases 2022 Community Benefits Report

Delaware Public Media | By Kelli Steele
Published September 17, 2022 at 7:54 PM EDT
 

The latest Community Benefits Report from Delaware Healthcare Association details some hospitals’ contributions to the First State.

The Association recently released its 2022 report, showing Delaware hospitals contributed an estimated $978-million-dollars statewide during Fiscal Year 2020.

The report serves as a tool for policymakers, hospitals, consumers, and the larger healthcare community, by explaining how hospitals provide public health and economic benefits to the state of Delaware.

The group’s president and CEO Wayne Smith explains some of what that number reflects.

"Not only do we do that with acute care, but also trying to take care of some of the underlying factors that can affect health in communities," he said. "So this is everything from contributions to local food banks to underwriting a lot of the governmental healthcare programs such as Medicare and Medicaid that don’t meet the costs.”

Smith notes that Delaware hospitals were responsible for paying out unpaid costs of $662.29 million from Medicare, Medicaid and Tricare.

“Some of the most significant items that Delaware hospitals provide in terms of community benefit are - engagement with public health insurance programs such as Medicaid and Medicare; they do not cover the costs of care, so that is a contribution we make. Every hospital has programs for people in need, where they can work with them to afford the care that they may need at a hospital,” he said.

Smith adds that it’s also the hospitals’ job to make sure Delawareans have healthier opportunities in the communities where they live so they can avoid medical problems that could land them in the hospital. 

Delaware hospitals also provide significant economic contributions to the state: employing 22,797 people, supporting more than 47,978 jobs and adding $6.93 billion to the state economy through economic output.