Community benefit reports demonstrate hospitals and health systems’ participation and contributions toward meeting identified community health needs. This could include collaboration with a community to benefit its residents – especially the poor, minorities, the uninsured and underinsured – by improving their health status and quality of life.

Community Benefit Criteria

• Generates a low or negative margin
• Responds to the needs of special populations
• Responds to public health needs
• Education or research that improves overall community health

A community benefit could include free clinics and programs or partnerships that promote healthy lifestyles among specific groups such as young children, teen parents and the elderly. Nontraditional benefits also include programs that address violence, child abuse and subsidies that ensure access to dental care or mental health services in urban or rural communities. To see real-life examples of community benefit programs, see the Community Benefit in Action page. (link)

The report is a statewide aggregate of all programs reported to NJHA’s Health Research and Educational Trust, through digital data collection and manual reporting.

Recommendations for providers on how services should be categorized and what should and should not be included as a community benefit can be accessed here.