Virginia hospitals and health systems provided $3.3 billion in community support to the Commonwealth in 2022 and generated more than $64 billion in positive economic activity across the state, according to the newly released 2024 Annual Report on Community Benefit from the Virginia Hospital & Healthcare Association.
Hospitals are available 24/7/365 to provide emergent and acute medical treatment and care to people in need. Virginia hospitals serve as essential providers of health care services and economic anchors for communities throughout the Commonwealth. Hospitals provide community support in many ways including:
- $1.2 billion in government payment shortfalls due to the difference between Medicare reimbursements and the actual cost of care;
- $358 million in charity care, which includes the cost of free and discounted care to serve individuals who cannot afford to pay for care;
- $228 million for means-tested programs and subsidized health services, and $354 million in bad debt for services not paid in full by a patient or third-party payer;
- $573 million to cover the state share of Medicaid expansion costs enabling hundreds of thousands of Virginians to gain health care coverage; and
- $201 million in community health investments.
The data show that hospitals provided more than $3.3 billion in community support in the form of uncompensated care, community investments, taxes, and more. Virginia hospitals also directly employ more than 124,400 people in good jobs, accounting for $12.7 billion in wages and benefits, and hospitals’ presence support 337,000 additional skilled jobs in the state. Virginia hospitals in 2022 made those abundant contributions while also handling the vast majority (91.8 percent) of total state voluntary and involuntary behavioral health inpatient hospital admissions, accommodating 3.3 million emergency department visits, accepting more than 741,200 inpatient admissions (accounting for 4.3 million patient days), and delivering more than 88,000 babies.
