A statewide survey by the Iowa Hospital Association (IHA) found that Iowa’s 117 hospitals provided community benefits in fiscal 2007 valued at more than $952 million, a 20 percent increase from the $789 million in community benefits the association reported two years ago.

By comparison, hospitals in Iowa recorded gross patient revenues of $11.7 billion in fiscal 2006, the latest fiscal year for which the IHA has that data available. The data is collected on the basis of each hospital’s fiscal year, most of which end on June 30.

Community benefits are activities designed to improve health status and provide greater access to health care. The total benefit includes $245 million in uncompensated care (bad debt), $328 million in unbilled charity care and $103 million in community programs such as health screenings, support groups, counseling, immunizations, nutritional services and transportation programs. Additionally, the IHA considers Medicare losses of $86 million and Medicaid losses of $148 million as part of its total community benefit.

The programs and services accounted for in the survey were implemented in direct response to the needs of individual communities, as well as entire counties and regions. Many of these community benefits would not exist without hospital leadership, said IHA President Kirk Norris.