What are not-for-profit/community-minded hospitals?
What it means to your community
Local control, local concerns. No private gain. Access to care. And attention to community needs. Not-for-profit/community-minded healthcare systems, like Health First, hold themselves accountable to the people they serve.
| Not-for-profit/community-minded |
Investor-owned |
| Assets stay in the community. |
Assets belong to investors/owners. |
| Local board of trustees serve without pay and balance financial decisions with community concerns. |
Major decisions are often made by individuals outside the community who emphasize creating profits for the stockholders. |
| Not for "private" profit; no private person or corporation makes any profit. |
Stockholders might be physicians who practice at the hospital; community members are generally not allowed to purchase stock. |
| All income above expenses is used to improve the health of the community. |
Profits often leave the community. |
| Provides a full spectrum of care — education, prevention, and treatment — that benefits all members of the community. |
Provides a full range of care that benefits the community they serve; however, focus is also placed on how to best serve their investors. |
Fiscal facts about Health First, a not-for-profit/community-minded healthcare system
Health First is a 501(c)3 charitable organization. The majority of our revenues are related to our not-for-profit entities within Health First, including our hospitals. They pay certain taxes such as indigent care tax, but like other not-for-profit organizations are exempt from other taxes such as Federal Income Tax and Florida sales tax. For those Health First entities that are required to operate on a for-profit basis such as Health First Health Plans, they pay income taxes and other taxes.
Health First provided $39,344,385 in fiscal year 2008 in mission-driven Community Benefits including:
* Charity Care -- actual costs of providing free or discounted care to persons who cannot afford to pay and who are not eligible for public programs
* Cash, in-kind Donations to support community organizations
* Medicaid subsidies -- actual unpaid costs of providing care to Medicaid patients beyond the payments received from the government
* Community Outreach Services -- Activities carried out to improve community health including services that are subsidized because they are needed in the community, e.g., community education and outreach, health screenings and support for free clinics
* Health Professional Education -- Cost of nursing and other clinical training and education
Additional Community Benefits totaled $11,055,092 including Health First Foundation Grants, Employee Campaigns, Indigent Care Tax & Birth Tax, and Taxes (real estate, property & other taxes paid)
Also, Health First provided a total of $50,895,435 of Unpaid Costs in Excess of Payments to Deliver Care -- Medicare Shortfalls (the difference between what it costs Health First to provide healthcare services for Medicare patients and what we receive in payments from the government); and Bad Debt (the total cost of services provided by Health First for patients who have not paid their bills in part of in full).
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