Community Benefit Activities
Minnesota hospitals are essential community partners. Not only do Minnesota hospitals provide high quality care to any patient that needs it, but the commitment of hospitals extends beyond their four walls to their communities through outreach and wellness programs and economic promotion and support.
View the 2018 Community Benefit Report,
which reflects 2017 information - the most recent data available.
Community contribution highlights
In 2017, Minnesota’s hospitals provided community contributions totaling $5.2 billion, including:
- $691
million in uncompensated care, or care provided without payment. This
uncompensated care includes charity care for patients from whom there is no
expectation of payment and bad debt, the result of patients who could not or
did not pay their share of the hospital bill. Bad debt expense increased by 24.7
percent to $467 million in 2017. Charity care costs increased by 9 percent to
$224 million in 2017. The proliferation of high-deductible health plans may be
contributing to growth in bad debt. In addition, Minnesota’s uninsured rate
rose to 6.3 percent in 2017, leaving approximately 349,000 Minnesotans without
health insurance coverage. With the 2017 repeal of the portion of the ACA that
mandated individuals have insurance coverage, hospitals and health systems
anticipate further increases in both charity care and bad debt in the future.
- $446
million in education and workforce development, including training for doctors,
nurses and other highly skilled health care professionals.
- $258
million in research to support the development of better medical treatments and
to find cures for diseases.
- $2.7
billion in government underfunding as a result of treating Medicare and
Medicaid patients and receiving government reimbursements that are less than
the actual cost of providing the care. This is 10.1 percent of hospitals’
operating expenses.
Past community benefit reports
2017
2016
2015
2014
2013
2012
2011
2010
2009
2008