Community Benefit Report Summary

In 2008, LRGHealthcare gave back $23,049,939 in community benefit valued at cost. Our community benefit activities in 2008 fell in five primary categories:

Providing Healthcare Access for the Uninsured and Underinsured $5,323,240

This includes support we provide to those who cannot pay, the HealthLink Program, and support we provide to HealthFirst, a federally qualified community health center with locations in Franklin and Laconia. LRGHealthcare’s mission is to make quality healthcare available, affordable, and accessible to all, regardless of ability to pay.

Last year we granted membership in the HealthLink program to more than 2,500 people (providing them with a sliding fee-scale, affordable copayment for primary, specialty, and hospital care); and handled more than 24,000 calls for assistance or referrals to healthcare services in the community. It is expected that the need for this service will continue to grow: in the first two months of the new fiscal year, we have seen an increase to more than 200 applicants per month.

Unrecovered Costs from Medicare and Medicaid Underpayments $16,306,876

The American Hospital Association (AHA) recommends that hospitals report Medicare and Medicaid shortfalls as community benefit. This is because Medicare, like Medicaid, does not pay the full cost of care. In fact for 2008 we estimate that, in a combined average between LRGH and FRH, Medicare reimbursed about 83 cents of each dollar we spent caring for Medicare beneficiaries, and Medicaid 62 cents. But since providing care for the elderly, serving Medicare and Medicaid patients, and serving all patients regardless of ability to pay is an essential part of the community benefit standard, as well as our mission in our community, we serve these patients without regard to the payment shortfall. These figures include only hospital shortfalls—physician practice shortfalls are not included.

Promoting Health through Risk Management Activities and Managing the Continuum of Care with Patients $719,071

LRGHealthcare not only takes care of people when they are ill; we emphasize wellness programs to keep people in our community healthy. Providing programs to help patients live healthy lives with chronic diseases, access medications they need, and manage their care through difficult times is morally the right thing to do—but it is not profitable. LRGHealthcare supports Cardiac and Pulmonary Rehabilitation, Diabetes Management, Community Care Management, Care Management for Veterans through our VetLink Program, the Medication Connection Program, Chemical Dependency, our Breast Health Program, and local ambulance service. The difference these programs have made, not only in saving lives but also in improving the quality of life for those in our community, is notable. In 2008 we expanded our involvement with the State’s Breast and Cervical Cancer Program, serving 175 patients without insurance in our community. The Medication Connection program served 529 clients, assisting them in obtaining through pharmaceutical company programs 4,222 prescriptions worth more than $1.7 million.

Promoting Health through Education and Support $374,869

Again, LRGHealthcare is not just focused on treating illness—our goal is to help people in our community work towards achieving and maintaining wellness. LRGHealthcare offers an extensive program of wellness education and programming to our local community, and we target our efforts to support the local public health networks. We work in collaboration with a number of other community organizations to expand health programming far beyond what we could offer alone; we are a founding member of the Lakes Region Partnership for Public Health. Over the past year, we focused our community education efforts on the leading underlying causes of mortality and morbidity in our region: tobacco, nutrition, physical activity, and injury prevention; and we reached more than 1,200 people through programming in schools, workplaces, and the community. In addition, with more than 33,000 hours of service, our volunteers provide an invaluable resource by supporting patients and staff throughout our facilities.

Providing Continuing Education and Training for Health Professionals $325,884

It is vitally important to attract and retain a skilled, professional staff. We not only support educational advancement in health careers for our employees and community, we also train EMS providers for our community, and offer clinical training for health professionals with a wide range of specialties. This year, we significantly expanded training opportunities in our service area for paramedics, including monthly advanced life support continuing education and paramedic refresher training, and community CPR training for organizations such as local police departments and boys and girls club staff members.

In 2008 we continued to provide up to $3,000 per year of tuition reimbursement for our employees, to ensure that healthcare workers in our community have the most up-to-date training available. In addition, LRGHealthcare has been instrumental in the creation of a new nursing school through provision of both financial support as well as clinical training opportunities for students.

In the past five years, our TuitionLink program has served more than 150 students; helping those interested in healthcare careers achieve their educational and professional goals. We have now targeted our efforts on building the workforce in critical shortage professional areas such as nursing and medical imaging.

Non-Quantifiable

In addition to these categories are the non-quantifiable ways in which we give back to our community.

These include the provision of free and low-cost screening programs, collaboration with local agencies to ensure availability and accessibility of mental health services in our community, curriculum support for local schools, support for the Community and Winnipesaukee Wellness Centers, involvement in local community building projects, support of local fundraising efforts, staff volunteerism in community and statewide initiatives, an active role in supporting the local United Way through staff volunteerism and fundraising (including $70,310 in employee donations, plus a full match by LRGHealthcare), hosting of students seeking hours toward clinical and other degree programs, provider recruitment to serve our designated rural health service areas, and support to regional emergency preparedness preparation (which is a growing commitment each year).

This year we collaborated with Laconia Savings Bank to print, distribute, and provide community education around medication safety cards, and we continued our active participation in the Lakes Region Partnership for Public Health.