Scripps Invests Close to $354 Million Into Community Benefit Services

Scripps divides community benefit services into three categories: uncompensated health care, community health improvement services and professional education and health research.

Uncompensated care accounted for the largest portion of Scripps’ community benefit efforts throughout San Diego County, more than $316 million in fiscal 2015.

Uncompensated care included:

• $269.5 million in under-reimbursed care (underpayment from Medi-Cal, Medicare and other government programs)
• $36.9 million in charity care (for people without insurance who did not qualify for government assistance).Scripps Mercy Hospital campuses in San Diego and Chula Vista accounted for 59 percent of the total.
• $9.6 million in bad debt (failure to pay by patients whose health care was not classified as charity care).

Scripps invested $11.4 million into community improvement programs, including:

• More than $3 million for community health improvement services and cash and in–kind contributions in support of prevention and wellness programs such as cardiac screenings, diabetes education, cancer support groups and health and wellness events.
• $6.5 million in subsidized health services
• $1.8 million in support of community building activities.

Scripps invested more than $26 million in professional education and health research, including:

• $14.3 million for graduate medical education programs at Scripps Green Hospital, Scripps Mercy Hospital San Diego and the Scripps Family Medicine Residency Program.
• $5.3 million for health research, primarily at Scripps Clinical Research Services, Scripps Whittier Diabetes Institute, Scripps Genomic Medicine and Scripps Translational Science Institute.
• $6.5 million for Scripps professional education.

Scripps Health employees and affiliated physicians collectively volunteered 7,737 hours in support of Scripps-sponsored community benefit programs, the equivalent of more than $364,000 in volunteer labor. (Volunteer hours are mentioned in the report but are not included in the community benefit total.)

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 2016 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, wellness centers and clinics.

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