Scripps Invests $398 Million Into San Diego County Communities

SAN DIEGO COUNTY, CA – Scripps Health invested $398 million into community benefit programs in San Diego County during fiscal year 2017, the nonprofit health care company announced Wednesday.

The figure accounted for 14 percent of the company's total operating expenses, according to Scripps.

The vast majority of the money, $361.1 million, went to uncompensated care, which includes services that were under-reimbursed by Medicare and other government programs, as well as services for uninsured patients who didn't qualify for government assistance.

Scripps invested $29.4 million into health research, graduate medical education and professional education. Another $7.5 million went to community health services, including prevention and wellness programs.

"Giving back to the San Diego community is deeply rooted at Scripps Health, going all the way back to our founders Ellen Browning Scripps and Mother Mary Michael Cummings," said Chris Van Gorder, president and CEO of Scripps Health. "I think both of them would be proud to see that their commitment to improving the health of San Diegans is being carried forth stronger than ever today."

Scripps offered the following breakdown.

Community benefit services: Scripps divided community benefit services into three categories: uncompensated health care; community health improvement services; and professional education and health research.

Uncompensated care accounted for the largest portion of Scripps’ community benefit efforts at $361.1 million in fiscal 2017, officials said.

Uncompensated care included:

• $334.8 million in under-reimbursed care (underpayment from Medi-Cal, Medicare and other government programs)
• $21.2 million in charity care (for people without insurance who did not qualify for government assistance). Scripps Mercy Hospital’s campuses in San Diego and Chula Vista accounted for 59 percent of Scripps’ charity care.
• $5.1 million in bad debt (failure to pay by patients whose health care was not classified as charity care).

Scripps invested $7.5 million into community health services, including:

• $2.9 million for community health improvement services, and cash and in-kind contributions in support of prevention and wellness programs such as cardiac screenings, diabetes education, cancer support groups and health and wellness events.
• $3.7 million in subsidized health services.
• $900,000 in support of community building activities.

Scripps invested $29.4 million in health research, graduate medical education and professional education including:

• $15.9 million for graduate medical education programs at Scripps Green Hospital, Scripps Mercy Hospital and the Scripps Family Medicine Residency Program.
• $10.4 million for professional education programs at the high school and college levels.
• $3.1 million for health research, primarily at Scripps Clinical Research Services, Scripps Whittier Diabetes Institute, Scripps Genomic Medicine and Scripps Translational Science Institute.

Scripps employees and affiliated physicians collectively volunteered 9,597 hours in support of Scripps-sponsored community benefit programs, the equivalent of more than $462,000 in volunteer labor, officials said.

A copy of the report, which includes data on each of Scripps’ four hospitals, is available online at www.scripps.org/communitybenefit.

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--City News Service contributed to this report/Shutterstock image