CT hospitals report on community benefits

Connecticut hospitals invested $1.5 billion in community benefit initiatives in 2014, according to a new report from the Connecticut Hospital Association. These include programs targeted to meet specific community needs, such as support services for patients with chronic conditions and young parents, education for the next generation of health care professionals, $247.6 million in uncompensated care and $710.5 million in unpaid government-sponsored health care. “But hospitals can’t keep providing all the community benefit services that they do today if the state continues taxing them at nearly 30 times what any other organization pays, and refuses to provide them with the payments that are due for the care they have provided,” said CHA CEO Jennifer Jackson. “We are asking legislators to help get the hospitals the funds they earned for caring for patients.”