EMHS invests $217M to benefit Maine communities in 2017

Brewer-based EMHS, an integrated health care system that delivers services in all 16 Maine counties, reported its 2017 “community benefit” investments totaled $217.3 million, a 7% increase over 2016.

Community benefit is a measure of a health system’s investment in the community through activities focused on improving access to health services, improving the health of the community, advancing medical knowledge and helping to relieve the burden of government to improve health.

“We are blessed to live in a state where we know our neighbors and we look out for each other,” said EMHS President and CEO M. Michelle Hood. “We strive to ensure everyone, regardless of their ability to pay, receives the care they need, when they need it. Our goal is to use our resources to help the people we serve to take advantage of all our great state has to offer.”

The report features the valuation of benefits provided by each EMHS member, organized by reportable classes of expenditures required of all non-profit community hospitals. Also included are feature stories describing how these benefits are touching the lives of people across Maine.

Here’s the breakdown for EMHS’s total $217.3 million community benefit:

Community health improvement services: $4.18 million
Health professions education: $3.03 million
Research: $2.73 million
Cash and in-kind contributions: $373,024
Community-building activities: $663,626
Community-benefit operations: $1.75 million
Traditional charity care: $26.66 million
Unrecoverable interest costs: $1.31 million on $34.2 million
Unpaid cost of Medicaid: $63.35 million
Unpaid cost of Medicare: $113.27 million.

“All of us here at EMHS — more than 12,000 employees — care deeply about the communities where we work and live,” said Doug Michael, EMHS chief community health officer. “This report is a reflection of our caring commitment to our patients and our ongoing partnership with the communities we serve.”

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EMHS 2017 Community Benefit report