We would like to share the following community benefit news and resources with you.
What Counts Update
CHA Releases Updated Community Benefit Resources
Archive of Webinar on Hospital and School Partnerships Now Available
New CDC Web Resources to Improve Population Health
Community Prevention & Multi-Sector Stakeholders Webinar Series
Can Hospitals Heal America's Communities? – New Paper from the Democracy Collaborative
Modern Healthcare Articles on Community Benefit and Population Health
Registration Now Open – ACHI Annual Meeting
Registration Now Open for ACPM Meeting on Building Healthier Communities
Community Benefit in the News
What Counts Update
At its October meeting the What Counts Task Force discussed whether the costs for the following services should be reported as community benefit.
Genetic counseling services – The task force concluded that genetic counseling is similar to other types of screening/follow-up and therefore recommends reporting the costs of this service as community health improvement. For patients who are at high risk of cancer, the service provides health awareness and prevention benefits. The service costs should be reported in A3. Health Support Services. Reporting this service as community benefit would be further be strengthened if efforts are made to reach out to uninsured/low-income people.
Harvesting organs for transplantation – Since the cost of harvesting/donating organs generally is recovered through reimbursements from Organ Procurement Organizations (OPO) or through insurance and other resources provided by organ recipients the task force recommends that these costs not be reported as community benefit. If reimbursement is inadequate, the task force suggests that hospitals seek to negotiate better payment terms.
Cancer registries – The task force was asked to review its recommendation that cancer registries not be reported as community benefit. The task force concluded that since registries are required for accreditation as a cancer hospital, it should affirm its guidance that their cost not be reported as community benefit.
Documenting an in-kind contribution – Organizations should keep records on in-kind and material contributions which include documentation of the need and how the contribution was used.
CHA Releases Updated Community Benefit Resources
Updated editions of the following CHA community benefit resources are now available: A Guide for Planning and Reporting Community Benefit, Assessing and Addressing Community Health Needs, and Evaluating Your Community Benefit Impact. These updated resources align with final rules implementing 501(r) requirements for tax-exempt hospitals and include new tools, including templates for community health needs assessment (CHNA) and implementation strategy (IS) reports and a summary of CHNA and IS requirements (Download a copy). The resources are available in hardcopy and as pdfs. For more information visit www.chausa.org/communitybenefit.
Archive of Webinar on Hospital and School Partnerships Now Available
The archive of "A Match Made In Heaven: Health Care and School Systems as Partners"" is available here. The highly rated Oct. 28 webinar was sponsored by CHA and VHA and discussed how hospitals and schools can partner to improve population health. The webinar featured presenters from Our Lady of the Lake Regional Health System and Health Centers in Schools, both of Baton Rouge, La. One attendee noted, "Anyone truly interested in creating a healthier community should pay attention to this program."
New CDC Web Resources to Improve Population Health
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has released the following new web resources for public health practitioners, hospital and health system professionals and other community stakeholders working to improve population health. For questions or comments, contact CDC at [email protected].
Community Prevention & Multi-Sector Stakeholders Webinar Services
CHA, along with several other national organizations committed to improving community health, is sponsoring the Community Prevention & Multi-Sector Stakeholders Webinar Series. An archive of the first webinar, which took place Oct. 15, is now available on the Dialogue4Health website. A follow up webinar archive addressing Q&As from the October webinar is also available.
The next scheduled webinar will be Stepping Up to Make a Difference: The Vital Role of Anchor Institutions in Community Health Improvement, and will take place on Jan. 27 from 3 to 4:30 p.m. ET/12 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. PT. More details will be posted to www.dialogue4health.org in the following weeks.
Can Hospitals Heal America's Communities? – New Paper from the Democracy Collaborative
The Democracy Collaborative has just released Can Hospitals Heal America's Communities? – a paper on how hospitals can adopt an "anchor mission" through their business models and operations. The paper notes that "This approach expands the set of resources and tools institutions have at their disposal to carry out their mission. It shifts the discussion of community benefit from the margins of an institution's operations to overall accountability, where all resources can be leveraged to benefit the communities in which institutions are located."
Modern Healthcare Articles on Community Benefit and Population Health
Modern Healthcare recently published two articles discussing the efforts of not-for-profit health systems such as Ascension, Dignity, Kaiser Permanente, ProMedica and Trinity to address social determinants of health in their communities.
Registration Now Open – ACHI Annual Meeting
Join ACHI March 1-3, 2016, in Baltimore for its 13th annual national conference, From Health Care to Healthy Communities. This meeting convenes over 500 community health stakeholders from the health care, public health and community development sectors for three days of networking and learning from presentations showcasing innovative practices in community health improvement. Attendees can participate in pre-conference workshops, plenary sessions, interactive site visits in Baltimore, networking receptions and breakout sessions. Learn more and register today at www.healthycommunities.org/2016achi. Early bird rates are available until Dec. 31.
Registration Now Open for ACPM Meeting on Building Healthier Communities
Registration is now open for Building Community Health and Wellbeing through Business, Culture, and Policy, a symposium co-hosted by American College of Preventive Medicine (ACPM) and its Corporate Roundtable partners. The one-day symposium, which will take place Feb. 23, 2016, in Crystal City, Va, will explore the impact of a variety of societal influences on community health. Faculty and attendees will examine key questions related to community health and healthy living, including topics like engineering better health, the role of communities in healthcare, and strategies for pharmaceutical, insurance, health systems, and other healthcare companies to serve as agents for positive change. For more information or to register, visit http://www.acpm.org/healthy-communities-symposium.
Community Benefit in the News
Recent articles from Catholic Health World and Health Progress featuring community benefit news and programs from the across the ministry