Charity Care (at cost)
As one of the area’s top safety net provider, in 2019 Summa Health provided more than $15.2 million in charity care. This amount represents the net costs, not charges, associated with providing care and does not include bad debt.
Patients with incomes up to 250% of the federal poverty income guidelines, or who have a hospital bill that exceeds 25% of their gross annual income are eligible to apply for fully discounted charity care assistance. In addition, there is a sliding scale discount program for those who have income between 250% and 400% of the federal poverty income guidelines. In 2019, the charity care program benefited more than 22,157 patient encounters.
Un-reimbursed Cost of Medicaid
In 2019, Summa Health’s unpaid costs for Medicaid totaled more than $40 million. Ohio Medicaid reimbursements historically have not covered the cost of providing the care to the Medicaid beneficiaries.
Community Health Improvement Services
A large part of Summa’s work is offering preventive and wellness programs to build a healthier community. Throughout 2019, Summa provided more than $12 million to help fund vital health improvement activities such as free and low-cost health screenings, health education services and wellness programming.
Health Professions Education
Summa Health offers a strong medical education program and fosters a sought-after learning environment for the next generation of healthcare professionals. At Summa’s hospitals, approximately 250 residents and fellows from U.S. and international medical schools train in 15 accredited residency and fellowship programs and approximately 53 percent of program graduates remain in the community to practice at Summa hospitals. Summa Health has also invested approximately $27.5 million of its resources to provide clinical learning experiences in medicine, nursing and allied health.
Subsidized Health Services
Summa Health is committed to providing subsidized health services – clinical services that meet an identified community need and are provided despite a financial loss. Vital services such as the Summa Health Senior Health Center, Summa Health Traumatic Stress Center, the Summa Health Dental Clinic and our diabetes education efforts are offered even though they are not profitable. In 2019, the cost of our subsidized health services exceeded $36 million.
Research and Innovation
A major goal of the Research & Innovation group is to offer our patients access to cutting-edge therapies and technologies within the community, particularly through clinical trials. This not only provides the best care for our patients, but also improves the health of our community. In 2019, Summa contributed a net cost of more than $7.4 million to explore potential new therapies, care coordination improvements and treatment options.
Financial and In-kind Donations
Every year, Summa participates in numerous community programs and contributes financial assistance and in-kind services to support community organizations and events that provide care and promote health and wellness. Examples include neighborhood health facilities such as OPEN M and Faithful Servants Care Center. Summa also provides medical services to several athletic events throughout the community. In total, Summa contributed more than $2 million to community organizations in 2019.
Bad Debt Expenses
An important part of Summa’s commitment to providing quality and accessible healthcare includes covering the expenses of payments that were expected but not received. While Summa Health recognizes that the cost of bad debt is part of the cost of doing business, Summa believes that it is important to report these costs to show the total picture of how much care Summa Health provides to the community without full reimbursement. In 2019, the cost for bad debt exceeded $17.1 million.
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