Serving Our Community

Community Benefits are programs or activities that provide treatment and/or promote health and healing as a response to identified community needs. These programs:

• often operate at a financial loss to the health system
• respond to needs of special groups, such as persons living in poverty
• supply services that would likely be discontinued or would need to be provided by another organization if the decision was made purely on a financial basis
• respond to public health needs
• involve education or research that improves overall community health

^{From A Guide for Planning and Reporting Community Benefit, published by the Catholic Health Association of the United States, revised 2008, developed in cooperation with VHA, Inc.}

Middlesex Health is proud to be a part of the community we serve. Our Community Benefit Policy defines and guides activities to ensure they are consistent with the mission and vision of Middlesex Health, as well as with state and/or national guidelines applicable to a not-for-profit community organization. Our Community Benefit Activities target health improvement and wellness through three domains:

1. Access to Care programs seek to reduce demographically driven disparities in health care.
   
   
2. Community Health Initiatives include health education and information, disease prevention and management, among other health and wellness programs.
   
   
3. Good Neighbor Activities represent in-kind support such as staff participation in community collaborations and partnerships designed to improve community health.

Not-for-profit hospitals have long been anchor providers of an enormous range of free and subsidized benefits to the communities they serve. Regardless of this tradition, health care providers are under scrutiny and required by the IRS, the State, and other regulatory bodies to demonstrate that they are true to their charitable mission and tax-exempt purpose. Standards to account for Community Benefit programming have been implemented to ensure consistency in reporting of services and accounting for numbers served.

The following seven broad categories (as outlined in A Guide for Planning and Reporting Community Benefit, published by the Catholic Health Association of the United States, revised 2008), are utilized for the accounting and maintenance of our community benefit inventory.

1. Community Health Improvement Services
   The purpose of these activities is to improve community health. They include health education; community-based clinical services such as health screenings and immunizations; support groups; social services provided for vulnerable populations in the community; health care support and preventive services; and self help programs such as smoking cessation.
   
   
2. Health Professions Education
   These are educational programs in which Middlesex Health is involved, which result in a degree or training necessary to practice as a health professional.
   
   
3. Subsidized Health Services
   Include low or negative margin services that are provided despite a financial loss to Middlesex Health. Such services are provided because they meet an identified community need and if no longer offered would either be unavailable or fall to the responsibility of government or another not-for-profit organization to provide.
   
   
4. Research
   Includes all clinical investigations, trials and studies; community health research; and health care delivery studies designed to generate shared knowledge.
   
   
5. Financial and In-Kind Contributions
   Represent corporate cash contributions and in-kind donations of goods and services to community groups and similarly mission-driven not-for-profit organizations.
   
   
6. Community Building Activities
   Include activities that work to uncover the causes of community health issues (for example, poverty and homelessness may be the drivers behind certain health outcomes). Community assets are supported by Hospital staff participation in local boards, partnerships and coalitions.
   
   
7. Community Benefit Operations
   Includes costs associated with dedicated staff, strategy, administration and operations of a community benefit program as well as costs associated with conducting a community health needs assessment.

The mission of Middlesex Health is to “improve the health and well-being of our community by providing quality health care services with caring, compassion and skill”. Middlesex Health’s commitment to ensuring the availability of extensive Community Benefit programs and services is the cornerstone of our organization.

Middlesex Health’s leadership continues to recognize the importance of its influence in the wellness of the community it serves. It continues to support and promote community-wide health improvement services and programs targeted to the needs and priority areas uncovered by a health assessment.

See current and past Community Benefit Reports:

Community Benefit Report 2010
Community Benefit Report 2009
Community Benefit Report 2008
Community Benefit Report 2007

Middlesex Health is committed to providing the best health care possible to the people we serve. In order to do this, important health issues within the community need to be clearly assessed. Through this process, an institution learns what specific areas require the most urgent attention. From there, work can begin on improving the ways in which these priority health care needs are met.

Middlesex Health initiated this process when it conducted its countywide health assessment. This health assessment provides a road map for the future of our community benefit goals—a road on which Middlesex Health hopes to have many community partners join in—in order to meet the most pressing health care needs of the people we serve. Working together, with targeted programs and services, we can improve the lives of those in our community for years to come.

See current and past health assessments:

2016 Community Health Assessment

2008 Community Health Assessment

Another important aspect of Middlesex Health’s community benefit program is ensuring that patients are aware of Middlesex Health's financial assistance program. We understand that some patients may experience difficulty in paying for services—we hope to help with our financial assistance program.

Please visit the Financial Assistance Services section of our website to learn more about our program, download information and applications, and get contact information for our Financial Counselors.