Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Community Benefit:Opportunity for Public Health Hospital Collaborations


Community Benefit: An Opportunity for Public Health and Hospitals to Work Together


Recent changes in federal law have created an opportunity for hospitals, public health departments, and community groups to forge new partnerships and improve health. To maintain their tax-exempt status, nonprofit hospitals must provide benefits to the communities they serve. Historically, hospitals’ community benefit activities have focused on providing charity care and other forms of uncompensated care. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) establishes standard requirements for nonprofit hospitals concerning community benefit reporting, community health needs assessments, and strategies to improve the health of the communities they serve. These strategies for population health improvement have the potential to bring key partners together in communities to work toward identifying and addressing important health priorities.

 The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) summarizes recent changes in federal law pertaining to this community benefit in a new brief, What’s New with Community Benefit? The brief and related reports are available here.
 

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