La Jolla Area Receives $95.8 Million in Community Benefits from Scripps

At Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla, uncompensated care for 2014 included $51.9 million in under-reimbursed care (underpayment from Medi-Cal, Medicare and other government programs); $8.99 million in charity care (for people without insurance who did not qualify for government assistance); and more than $803,000 in bad debt (failure to pay by patients whose health care was not classified as charity care).

Scripps La Jolla also invested $1.57 million in professional education and health research, including a pharmacy residency program. It devoted close to $1.3 million to community health services, programs and activities such as breast cancer support groups, cardiac and stroke exercise programs and prevention and wellness events.

Also in La Jolla, the Scripps Whittier Diabetes Institute devoted $335,114 to community benefit programs, including $125,175 for professional education and health research and nearly $210,000 for community health services.

Scripps Health employees and affiliated physicians collectively volunteered 776 volunteer hours in support of Scripps-sponsored community benefit programs, the equivalent of $35,866 in volunteer labor. (Volunteer hours are mentioned in the report but are not part of the community benefit total.)

At Scripps Green Hospital, uncompensated care for 2014 included $23.1 million in under-reimbursed care (underpayment from Medi-Cal, Medicare and other government programs) and nearly $930,000 in charity care (for people without insurance who did not qualify for government assistance).

Scripps also invested $6.9 million in professional education and health research through Scripps Green Hospital, including internal medicine training. It devoted nearly $324,000 toward community health services, including community building activities such as cancer and organ transplant support groups. Other community health services funded were wellness events and programs, such as support for the St. Leo’s Mission Medical Clinic and St. Vincent de Paul Village Medical Clinic.

Scripps Health employees and affiliated physicians collectively volunteered 380 hours, the equivalent of $17,563 in volunteer labor.

Across the county, Scripps Health invested $373 million into community benefit programs and services during fiscal year 2014. These programs and services accounted for 15.5 percent of the health system’s operating expenses. Scripps provided hospital services to one-quarter of the county’s uninsured patients.

Scripps collaborates with other health systems, community groups and government agencies as well as business and grassroots organizations to serve the greatest patient population needs and prioritize investments in the health and well-being of the community.

The 2015 Community Benefit Report is the system’s annual response to Senate Bill 697, a 1994 state law that requires private, nonprofit hospitals to document the full range of community benefits they provide on a yearly basis. Scripps takes this legislative requirement a step further by incorporating community benefit activities from throughout the system, including Scripps’ five acute-care hospital campuses, home health services, wellness centers and clinics.

Learn more about Scripps Health, a nonprofit integrated health system in San Diego, Calif.