Virginia Hospitals Provide Over $3 Billion Per Year In Community Benefit

The Virginia Hospital & Healthcare Association recently released a report showing that Virginia hospitals provided $3.2 billion in community benefit in 2019. The community benefit is calculated through a combination of free and discounted care, discounted care, support for community programs, local investments, and taxes. About half, $1.52 billion, was reported on Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Schedule H.

The community benefit estimate includes the following:

$810.13 million covered Medicare shortfalls. A Medicare shortfall occurs when a facility receives Medicare payments that are less than the cost of caring for Medicare beneficiaries.
$549.44 million covered bad debt . . .