What is "community benefit"? Why should Catholic health care organizations
seek to provide it?
One answer to the second question is given by Sr. Patricia Talone, RSM, PhD,
CHA's senior vice president for mission services, in "The
Theology of Community Benefit" (p. 20), which serves as the introductory
article to this issue's special section on the subject. The notion of community
benefit, Sr. Patricia writes, derives from the Catholic Church's traditional
dedication to the common good.
Another answer to that question appears in "Does
Mission Still Matter?" by J. David Seay, executive director, National Alliance
for the Mentally Ill of New York State, Albany, NY (p. 27). In our time, Seay
writes, the public is losing its ability to distinguish between voluntary, not-for-profit
hospitals and for-profit ones. If they are to survive, he argues, not-for-profit
institutions must reaffirm their links to the communities they serve.
As for the first question, Natalie Dean, director of social accountability,
Trinity Health, Novi, MI; and Julie Trocchio, CHA's senior director of continuing
care ministry, explain "Community
Benefit: What It Is and Isn't" (p. 22).
In addition, seven other articles in this unusually full special section consider
multiple aspects of the community benefit issue. Health Progress is grateful
to Julie Trocchio and Aimée DeVoll, a CHA communications specialist,
for their work in bringing the section together.
Copyright © 2005 by the Catholic Health Association of the United States
For reprint permission, contact Betty Crosby or call (314) 253-3477.