New! MHA Community Investment Report Highlights Hospitals' Community Benefit, Economic Impact

A new report from the Missouri Hospital Association found the state’s hospitals provided more than $1.8 billion in community benefit in 2007 — an increase of $200 million from last year’s report. More than $117 million of the increase was attributed to hospitals’ increased provision of uncompensated care.

“Hospitals continue to provide an important safety net for health services in communities throughout the state,” said Marc D. Smith, MHA president. “The 2007 data illustrate that even before the onset of the current hard economic times, hospitals were making significant investments in caring for the poor and providing health services for communities. Now more than ever, hospitals are essential to the health and well-being of the communities they serve.”

The report also highlights the significant economic impact of Missouri’s hospitals, including nearly $13.4 billion in economic activity generated from hospitals’ outlay of nearly $6.7 billion in salaries and benefits. Missouri hospitals’ 2007 investment in buildings, land and equipment was nearly $1.3 billion. When combined with salaries and benefits, Missouri communities benefited from more than $8 billion invested in facilities and employees by Missouri’s hospitals and health systems.

“Hospitals continue to contribute significantly to the state and local economies,” Smith said. “Missouri’s hospitals provide direct patient care and programs that improve individual and community health. They also provide a powerful economic engine for their communities.”

Missouri’s hospitals are as diverse as the communities they serve. Because each community has different needs, each hospital’s community benefit program is unique.

Hospitals participating in the report voluntarily submitted benefit data for fiscal year 2007. Reported categories include uncompensated care information for both charity care and bad debt, the unpaid costs of Medicare beneficiaries — excluding losses resulting from HMO contractual arrangements, the unpaid costs of Medicaid beneficiaries, donations, health professionals’ education, and free medical clinics and services. Using these measures, the statewide total of community benefit provided by hospitals in 2007 was $1.8 billion.

The community investment report is available on MHA’s consumer Web site at www.focusonhospitals.com.

Somebody’s Got to be the Guinea Pig… Right?

Surgical Instruments

Hi, this is James Noble for I-70 Community Hospital in Sweet Springs, Missouri.

Pardon me, but you wouldn’t mind too terribly much if the twenty-nine-year-old resident performed his first operation ever on you, would you? Well, how do you think we get new surgeons in this world? Somebody has to be the first patient. But we’re with you all the way. We wouldn’t let a newbie perform a serious procedure on us, either. The Educated Patient know that it’s a possibility, so they make sure it won’t happen to them. But the educated patient is in the enlightened minority. A survey found that 60 percent of patients had no clue that they could be a resident’s first dance partner in the OR. When asked, however, more than two-thirds didn’t even want a new doc doing something as routine as inserting a tube into their throat.

Spinal surgery? Only 1 out of 7 said they’d offer up their spines as testing ground. You’re well within your rights to ask how many times the surgeon has performed the specific surgery, and to ask who he or she will delegate certain parts of the operation to. (You remember Hawkeye on M*A*S*H saying “Close for me” to the nurse don’t ya?)

One thing an educated patient doesn’t do, however, is insist that a doctor do everything. It sounds prudent, but you don’t want the department chair personally inserting your medication IV if she hasn’t done it in twenty years. You can kindly ask the surgeon if he or she will actually be performing the surgery and request that residents or others only assist. You want them to follow their usual routine for your operation.

You can find a wealth of information to help protect you and your family’s health at www.i70medcenter.com. Or, you can visit our I-70 Family Clinic in Sweet Springs Missouri, where walk-ins are always welcome.

 Click Below for I-70 Community Hospital's Podcast

Somebody Has to be the Guinea Pig, Right?

Click Here for a Message from Our CEO