Demonstrating value. Healthcare organizations can document positive outcomes from their community-benefit services

When challenged to demonstrate their contributions to the community, Catholic and other not-for-profit hospitals have traditionally reported the sum of their charity care, free programs, and unprofitable services. But critics of tax-exempt healthcare now say this is insufficient and ask such hospitals for descriptions of the outcomes of their contributions. There are seven basic measures for gauging outcomes: participation, mind states, behavior, health status, sickness care utilization, sickness care expenditures, and community value. Some of these measures will, when used singly, fail to produce clear and convincing results. Moreover, all of them must be accompanied by a foundation for attribution. Finally, the hospital must be able to show that the outcomes have significant value for the community. But documenting the complete set of effects is worth the effort spent on it. Hospitals that carefully weigh the results of their contributions increase the likelihood that their community will truly benefit from them, and will themselves benefit from their ability to show that this is so.