Community Benefit Categories Includes:

• Financial Assistance
• Government-sponsored means-tested programs — unpaid costs of public programs
• Other Community Benefit Services
• Community Health Improvement Services
• Health Professions Education
• Subsidized Health Services
• Research
• Cash and In-Kind Contributions
• Community-Building Activities
• Community Benefit Operations

Principles for Determining What Programs and Activities are Community Benefit

• Community benefits are reported in terms of cost and in compliance with Schedule H instructions. Community benefit expenses are the expenses actually borne by the hospital organization, NOT charges, market value, or opportunity costs.

• Financial assistance does not include bad debt, contractual allowances or quick pay discounts.

• Activities or programs cannot be reported if they are more beneficial to the organization than to the community.

• Do Not Count activities:
• Provided for marketing purposes,
• Restricted to hospital employees and physicians only,
• Required of all health care providers by rules or standards,
• Unrelated to health or the mission of the organization, and
• The value of time provided by volunteers or employees on their own time.

What Counts as Community Benefit Q&A Search

Resources

CHA's A Guide for Planning and Reporting Community Benefit, Chapter 2 and the Appendices and Resources sections, provide guidance and principles on what counts and what does not count as community benefit. The following tools are referenced:

• Categories and Definitions
• Examples of What Counts as Community Benefit
• Is It Community Benefit?
• IRS Form 990, Schedule H Instructions

The following resources address reporting questions that have been raised around specific issues.

• Screening and Referrals for Health-Related Social Needs
• Prioritizing Community Benefit Donation Requests
• Housing and Community Benefit: What Counts
• Social Accountability and the Long-Term Care Continuum
• Guidance for Determining Whether to Report a Program or Activity as Community Health Improvement or Community Building
• Guidelines for Reporting Environmental Improvement as Community Benefit and Community Building on IRS Form 990, Schedule H

What Counts Hotline

Do you have a question about whether a program should count as community benefit?

The following What Counts Q&A and Community Benefit Categories and Definitions, and Is It Community Benefit? are resources that can help you determine whether to report a program or activity as community benefit. If you still have questions: How to submit a What Counts Question to CHA.