$3.43
billion
N.J. hospitals’ total contributions to their communities’ well-being, beyond direct healthcare services
$2 billion
Free and discounted patient care
$43 million
Community health improvement services
$224 million
Health professions education
$1 billion
Other community benefit programs
A hospital’s commitment to its community extends far beyond medical care and jobs (although both are certainly substantial.) The blue H in your town or city symbolizes access, stability, a center for wellness and healing and a community anchor always there to support and protect patients and residents.
This commitment is demonstrated in numerous ways: free and discounted healthcare services to the poor, aging and uninsured; health improvement programs like immunization clinics and screenings; partnerships with schools, faith-based groups and other community institutions; education and training for the next generation of physicians and nurses; and in the unprecedented and unrelenting response to the COVID-19 public health emergency.
By the formal definitions of “community benefit” reporting, N.J. hospitals provided nearly $3.5 billion in community benefit services in 2020, but that accounting doesn’t do justice to the contributions of New Jersey hospitals since COVID-19 first arrived in the state in March 2020. From the 100,000+ COVID patients successfully treated to the millions of New Jersey residents tested and vaccinated, hospitals’ work to save lives is beyond measure.