WellSpan Health provided more than $221 million in community benefit to southcentral Pennsylvania, according to the regional health system’s 2019 Community Benefit Report.
The report, titled “Leading Together for Better Health,” highlights the many ways that the region’s only locally-based, locally-governed health system has worked collaboratively with other community leaders and organizations over the past year to address important health needs throughout Adams, Franklin, Lancaster, Lebanon and York counties.
“At WellSpan Health, we are leading the way to a healthier central Pennsylvania,” said Roxanna Gapstur, Ph.D., R.N., president and CEO of WellSpan Health. “But we know we are not alone in this important goal. We work every day with community leaders, elected officials, nonprofit organizations, business leaders and other trusted partners to help make our community a healthier, more vibrant place for our friends and neighbors.”
WellSpan’s $221 million in total community benefit across its five-county region, included:
• $11.7 million, which represents the cost to provide free care to patients who participated in the health system’s Financial Assistance Program.
• $14.2 million, which represents the cost to support services that provided discounted medical, dental and pharmaceutical care to people in need.
• $15.3 million in community programs and outreach.
• $179.9 million in costs greater than what was paid to WellSpan to care for Medicaid enrollees.
Some of WellSpan’s noteworthy community benefit activities from 2019 included:
• Helping to keep the doors of the South Central Community Action Program’s shelter open in Adams County, ensuring families from the community have a place to go in their time of need.
• Supporting the work of Project Lazarus in York and Lancaster counties to prevent overdoses, and Gaudenzia Inc. in the community of Delta to provide outpatient drug treatment.
• Ensuring early and consistent prenatal care to expectant mothers on medical assistance in Lebanon County through support of Lebanon Family Health Services.
• Working to bring together programs that extend the reach of city-based social services into northern Lancaster County, through the formation of the Northern Lancaster Hub.
• Assisting in the development of Hope from the Start in Franklin County formed to address the health and well-being of babies and toddler-age children.
• Educating more than 1,000 individuals at locations across our communities on Mental Health First Aid, to ensure those suffering a mental health crisis get the immediate help they need.
Every three years, WellSpan partners with community organizations and local coalitions to conduct Community Health Needs Assessments across the region served by the health system. The assessments enable WellSpan to identify specific community health needs and develop strategies to address them, which are reflected in the Community Health Improvement Plan.
The Community Benefit Report reflects WellSpan’s progress over the past year toward addressing the health priorities laid out in the Community Health Improvement Plan.
To read the 2019 Community Benefit Report, and to learn about WellSpan Health’s community mission, visit WellSpan.org/Neighbors.