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The Mission and Core Values of Catholic Health East give witness to our ministry's focus on caring for society's most vulnerable residents: those who are poor, and the underserved. Long before the phrase "community benefit" was coined, Catholic Health East organizations had a long and proud history of assessing unmet community needs, and developing and implementing programs and services to address these needs. For the congregations that founded our health care organizations, service to those in need was and is a top priority. Our Mission calls for us to "…continually seek ways to assure access to services to persons most in need." We are blessed with determined, energetic and creative caregivers throughout our ministry who have developed, maintained and enhanced hundreds upon hundreds of community benefit programs that have touched a great many lives for the better. Not-for-profit health care facilities, such as those that comprise Catholic Health East, are granted tax exemptions by the Internal Revenue Service as 501(c) (3) organizations. Unlike for-profit entities, whose profits benefit shareholders, any excess of revenue over expenses earned by our organizations stay within our organizations in the form of improved facilities, new equipment and technologies, and enhanced programs and services. As health care has grown more complex and more expensive over the years, the industry has come under increased scrutiny; legislators, regulators and the public want to know are health care providers being true to their charitable mission? What are they doing to deserve their tax-exempt status? It is the obligation of non-for-profit health care providers to demonstrate that we are fulfilling our mission of community service and meeting our charitable tax-exempt purpose as a community benefit organization. However, until recently, there was no consistent agreement or standard for how to measure, report and evaluate community benefit efforts. Without these…how could we document that we are meeting these obligations? The Catholic Health Association of the United States (CHAUSA) led a nationwide effort to better quantify and standardize the community benefit reporting process. Their updated methodology of accounting for community benefits has been praised by Congressional leaders as the standard which all not-for-profit hospitals should follow. I'm proud of the fact that Catholic Health East played a part in the development of these national standards. While we all take pride in the wide array of community benefit programs and services provided by every single one of our entities, we also recognize our obligation to be accountable for measuring and reporting accurately on the benefit and value of these services. Just a couple of weeks ago, Catholic Health East released its 2006 Community Benefit Annual Report. This document, which can be viewed on CHE's web site at www.che.org, reports that the CHE ministry provided over $265 million in community benefit…including the cost of care for the poor, the cost of community benefit programs, and the unpaid costs of Medicaid programs. These numbers are important…but by themselves, they do not adequately communicate the depth and breadth of the services provided. To help do this more effectively, we selected seven programs - each one representing one of CHE's Core Values - and profiled a person or family whose lives were touched by one of our community benefit programs. So…you'll learn how Amanda's life was forever changed with the help of Mercy Maine's Recovery Center…and how a homeless, down-and-out Denny turned his life around with the support of Pittsburgh Mercy's Operation Safety Net…and how Lily's life gained direction and purpose through the support of The Bridge, a teen support group at Lourdes Health System. These and four other real-life stories are featured in our Annual Report. These stories are representative of the community benefit work that goes on every day throughout our ministry. Thanks to the efforts of so many colleagues throughout Catholic Health East, we are able to provide and enhance our services to those who are poor and underserved. We look forward to your ongoing support as we strive to be a transforming, healing presence in the communities we serve.
Sincerely yours,
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