5176.0: Wednesday, November 15, 2000: 2:30 PM-4:00 PM | ||||
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| All across the country, from New Hampshire to California, local communities are defending and improving their access to health care through campaigns to increase the "community benefits" provided by hospitals, HMOs and insurers. In some states, regulators and legislators have taken critical leadership in this process by defining the obligations of health care institutions to provide community benefits and to work with the community. Community benefits are the unreimbursed goods and services, provided by health care institutions, that address community-identified health needs and concerns. Some common examples include free or "charity" care at hospitals, premium subsidies by insurers or HMOs, health education campaigns, enhanced interpreter services,and support for community based programs such as domestic violence services. Health Care For All is a statewide Massachusetts consumer organization which has been working on community benefits since 1992 in Boston and many other local communities. The Office of the Attorney General of Massachusetts has been a national leader in the community benefits arena, issuing voluntary guidelines for nonprofit acute care hospitals and HMOs in 1994. The presenters will share their experiences in engaging communities and providers in community benefits efforts and in using regulation to ensure meaningful community benefits contributions by institutions. At the end of the session, participants will understand: 1. The scope of the community benefits concept 2. The range of community benefits laws and regulations around the country and strategies used by regulators to implement these policies. 3. Strategies and opportunities for communities to engage in community benefits effort | ||||
| See individual abstracts for presenting author's disclosure statement. | ||||
| Learning Objectives: Refer to the individual abstracts for learning objectives | ||||
| Laurie A. Martinelli, JD, MPH | ||||
| Hospital community benefit requirements in California: A breakthrough for local health planning David Werdegar, MD, MPH, Elsa Murphy, Ed Mendoza, MPH | ||||
| Contrasting approaches to hospital community benefit planning: How the definition of "community" affects the scope of benefit activities Ed Mendoza, MPH, Elsa Murphy, David Werdegar, MD, MPH | ||||
| Engaging Local Philanthropic Resources to Improve Access to Health Care: a Community-Based Perspective Margaret K. O'Bryon | ||||
| A Prescription for Change: Richard C. O'Sullivan, MA, Economics | ||||
| Privatization, managed care, and eliminating health disparities: will "de-mega-mergers" and other strategies work? Pauline J. Kelzer, DrPH, Barbara A. D'Anneo, BS | ||||
| Community hospital interventions to address disparities in health status David M. Carlisle, MD,, PhD, Elsa Murphy, BS | ||||
| Sponsor: | Community Health Planning and Policy Development | |||