Facts and Numbers
In 2010, Scripps contributed more than $337 million to community benefit. This includes more than $256 million in uncompensated care, more than $34 million in professional education and research, and more than $16 million in community health services. In 2010, severe economic conditions continue to affect sectors and organizations, including health care. Despite this, Scripps continues to fully take on the challenge of meeting the health care needs of our community, including the growing number of individuals and families without the ability to pay for these critical services. Our mission is our promise – to our community, our patients and to ourselves. Commitment to the community is how Scripps Health began, and it’s every bit a part of who we are today. For detailed information about our programs and services: 2011 Community Benefit Plan and Report (PDF, 7.9 MB).
The Scripps Health Community Benefit Plan and Report was developed in response to Senate Bill 697. Passed in 1994, the bill requires California’s community, not-for-profit hospitals to annually describe and document the full range of community benefits they provide. Scripps has taken this legislative requirement a step further. This report incorporates not only documentation of community benefits, but also a more detailed explanation of the specific community benefit activities provided on our five acute care hospital campuses, through home health care, our wellness centers and clinics. The report details programs and services that provide benefit to the community over and above standard practices of care. It is categorized into three primary areas:
- Uncompensated Health Care
- Community Health Services
- Professional Education and Health Research
The report covers the period of Oct. 2009 through Sept. 2010 (Fiscal Year 2011). During this fiscal year, Scripps devoted $337,784,350 to community benefit programs and services in the three above areas. Our programs emphasize community-based prevention efforts and use innovative approaches to reach residents at greatest risk for health problems.
The documentation and activities described in the Community Benefit Report are commitments Scripps makes in order to improve the health of our patients and our San Diego communities. As a long-standing member of these communities, and as a not-for-profit community resource, our goal and responsibility are to provide help and assistance for all who come to us for care, and to reach out especially to those who find themselves vulnerable and without support. This responsibility is an intrinsic part of our mission. Through our continued actions and community partnerships, we strive to raise the quality of life in the community as a whole.
Community Benefit is defined as programs or activities that provide treatment or promote health and healing in response to an identified community need.
- Respond to a public health need
- Involve education or research that improves overall community health
- Responds to needs of special populations
- Supply services or programs that would likely be discontinued if the decision was made on a purely financial basis because they operate at a financial loss.
Schedule H (Form 990)
Hospitals with tax-exempt status are now required to provide information specific to their organization on the new Schedule H of the recently redesigned Form 990 (the annual information return filed by tax-exempt organizations). The Schedule H is available at the IRS website.
Schedule H contains six parts. Part I requests details about a hospital’s charity care program and quantifies charity care expenditures. Part II quantifies the hospital’s community building activities. Part III quantifies the cost due to Medicare shortfalls and bad debts owed to the organization. Part IV requires disclosure of any joint ventures in which a hospital participates. Part V requests information about the entity’s health care facilities. Part VI provides an area in which to discuss, in a narrative fashion, other charitable activities that may be difficult to quantify.
Scripps has aligned its 2011 Community Benefit Plan and Report to the new Schedule H categories. According to the IRS, Community Building Activities, Bad Debt and Medicare Shortfalls are reported but not included in the community benefit totals.