Community Benefits |
Community Benefits Plan |
Medical Care Services, Including Charity Care |
Other Benefits for Vulnerable Populations |
Health Research, Education and Training |
Healthy Families Insurance Program |
Future Goals |
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Community Benefits
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Memorial Medical Center is a community based and not-for-profit hospital. Our goal is to fulfill a wide range of community needs, from providing quality health care to educating the public to promoting wellness in our community.
The state government is also interested in community wellness and the health care industry's response to community needs, and requires all private, not-for-profit hospitals in California to conduct community needs assessments and prepare and report their community benefits plans once a year.
Memorial Medical Center submitted a comprehensive report of our Community Benefits Plan to the state on May 31, 2007. The report showed that Memorial Medical Center provided a total economic value of $24,517,822 in Community Benefit Services to our community in 2006.
Memorial's original community benefits process was initiated in late 1995, when David Benn, CEO, appointed a Community Benefits Task Force, which completed the following objectives:
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Develop a community needs assessment
Develop a community benefits plan with measurable objectives
Document Memorial's efforts
Report outcomes to the state
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Because the needs identified in our assessment were vast and it would be virtually impossible to address each of them, we chose to concentrate our efforts on health education for all ages, and on providing charity care to vulnerable populations.
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Community Benefits Plan
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Since Memorial developed our Community Benefits Plan, we have successfully partnered with the Stanislaus County Health Services Agency (HSA) and the Public Health Department to better assess the needs of the population and to join forces to meet those needs.
One area that clearly needs attention is the problem of heart disease in our community. Because Stanislaus County ranks high in the number of deaths in California due to heart disease, Memorial focuses on providing valuable heart disease education, prevention and training programs. Memorial has partnered with Sutter Gould Medical Foundation to expand the Heart Education and Training program (HEAT). Memorial is also unique in providing one of the few cardiac rehabilitation programs available in our community. Every year, Memorial presents A Faire of the Heart, a free community event featuring free screenings and heart health education. Memorial also supports the Heart Coalition of Stanislaus County, which provides cardiac resources and information to our community.
Our Community Benefits Plan is divided into the following broad categories:
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Medical Care Services
Other Benefits for Vulnerable Populations
Other Benefits for the Broader Community
Health, Research, Education and Training
The Health Center
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Medical Care Services, Including Charity Care
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Memorial's Board of Directors approved the expenditure of $6,575,000 for the 2006 Operating Budget specifically for the category of Charity Care, and we estimate that a similar amount was spent in 2007.
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Other Benefits for Vulnerable Populations
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The majority of education that is provided to the community can be categorized as health information with three major disease categories: cancer, cardiovascular disease and diabetes. The needs assessment process identified the three disease categories as significant problem areas for both vulnerable and broader-based populations. Safety awareness and trauma prevention are also major features of Memorial's education programs.
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Other Benefits for the Broader Community
Memorial provides a comprehensive schedule of health information and education programs and services for community adults and children.
Memorial Medical Center's community benefits programs, health education classes, screenings and other wellness programs serve to contain the growth of community health care costs, as well as to improve the overall health of the community.
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Health Research, Education and Training
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Through our ongoing commitment to improve the health status of our community, Memorial supports internships and provides a training ground for future pharmacists, nurses and radiology technicians.
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Healthy Families Insurance Program
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Memorial Hospitals Association and Sutter Gould Medical Foundation are partnering with local community organizations to help solve one of the most pressing problems facing a growing number of California's families - access to adequate health care. In California, more than seven million residents have no health insurance and another four million are inadequately insured.
Memorial's goal is to help the children of qualifying families to access the state run program called Healthy Families. This program brings affordable insurance to children under the age of 19 whose parents have higher incomes than Medi-Cal allows, but not enough income to afford comprehensive coverage for their children. Through the efforts of Memorial, Sutter Gould Medical Foundation, the Health Services Agency and other community organizations, the monthly enrollment for Healthy Families in Stanislaus County has continued increase during the past three years.
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Future Goals
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The future of Memorial's Community Benefits Plan is exciting. With help from the Health Services Agency and other community organizations, we are currently updating our Community Needs Assessment to ensure that as our community changes, so do we. This needs assessment will help identify specific areas where our County drops below the state or national benchmarks in health related deaths or diseases. This may include increasing education about trauma prevention, improving access to health care, more expedient treatment of cardiac events, increasing awareness of certain communicable diseases and increased understanding of areas such as nutrition and fitness. Following the completion of this identification process, specific programs will be implemented to better meet the needs of Stanislaus County.
Memorial continues to demonstrate its commitment to the community by providing charity care, health care education classes and other types of services, in addition to expending substantial resources to accomplish our mission and objectives while working in partnership with community groups, agencies and governmental entities. Memorial proudly continues to be a positive community resource for health information and services.
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