There is a strong cause and effect relationship between your hospital and your community’s health.  Put simply, our state must have healthy hospitals in order for our people to be physically and fiscally healthy.

We rely on our local hospital to take care of us when we are sick or hurt and to help protect us against threats to our health. Hospitals are where we begin our lives and where many of us end our lives. South Carolina’s hospitals provide compassionate care for all, regardless of an individual’s ability to pay. They serve as the safety net for the uninsured and underinsured. It is their mission to help save lives and improve the quality of life in our state.

More than 700,000 South Carolinians have no health insurance and no ability to pay their hospital bills when they need care. Many avoid care until seriously ill, and most turn to the hospital emergency department when they can delay no longer.

In 2007, South Carolina hospitals provided $1.3 billion in “free” hospital care to uninsured and underinsured patients. Of that $439 million was for individuals who could not or did not pay. Hospitals also subsidized other health services to South Carolinians to the tune of $86.7 million.

While government programs such as Medicaid and Medicare partner with hospitals to help cover the cost of care for the poor, elderly and disabled, these programs do not cover all of the costs of caring for those who qualify for assistance. Last year hospitals subsidized more than $798 million in government payment shortfalls even after receiving additional payments from the Disproportionate Share Hospital Program created to help make up the difference between costs and payment.

In addition to traditional hospital care, hospitals provide an array of community-based services, many for free or at much reduced rates, to reach citizens who might otherwise not have access to care. Among these services are health screenings, nutritious meals, transportation to medical appointments, primary care clinics, immunizations, and prescriptions.

Last year the state’s hospitals reached out to 5 million participants, providing another $113 million worth of community-based services for which the hospitals did not charge.

Obviously, these activities are a powerful indication of the value that financially healthy hospitals do contribute to the good health of their communities. Each dollar invested to help people in need advances the health of the community.

Although these services are often provided at no charge or at very reduced fees to those receiving them, the hospital dedicates the staff and resources required to make the services possible. Decisions about how a hospital uses its resources are overseen by local members of the community who serve on the hospital’s board. Each hospital must be financially healthy in order to fulfill its mission to the community. That means that it must make a profit or margin in order to reinvest in the community by caring for the uninsured and providing other community benefits, purchasing new lifesaving technologies, updating aging facilities, and maintaining a strong and caring workforce.