Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center today reported that it provided community benefits - charity care, unreimbursed care, education, research and community outreach programs and services - valued at $376.3 million for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2015.
This is $103.7 million more than last year, which was itself an all-time high at $272.6 million, and represents a 38 percent increase, year over year.
“It is an honor for us to be in the community, helping to improve the health and care of those who live here,” said John D. McConnell, M.D., CEO, Wake Forest Baptist. “We are also fortunate to have great partners working with us in many of these programs that benefit our community and privileged to work with them as we serve patients and families throughout the region.”
One of these community programs provided free dental care to nearly 700 people without insurance, another provided an educational seminar to teach pastors and lay church members how to speak to those who are at risk of suicide, another provides free medical care through the DEAC clinic.
Unreimbursed care. Wake Forest Baptist provided $172.3 million in estimated unreimbursed care in FY15, an $80 million increase over the previous year. This increase represents the non-reimbursed costs of treating patients covered by Medicare, Medicaid and other non-negotiated government programs as well as an increased number of Medicare patients seeking treatment.
Charity care. Wake Forest Baptist provided $92.4 million in charity care in FY15, a $23 million increase over the previous year. This was largely due to improvements in qualifying individuals for charity care.
Education and research. In FY 15, Wake Forest Baptist provided $103.9 million in education funding for medical students and other health professionals and research funding not covered by outside sources. This funding is an increase of approximately $900,000 over the prior year.
Community health improvement. Similar to last year Wake Forest Baptist provided $5.6 million in community health initiatives, operations and donations. An additional $2.1 million was spent on our FaithHealth, pastoral care and unfunded Brenner FIT and emergency preparedness programs for a total of $7.7 million.
Community benefits are reported annually as required by the North Carolina Medical Care Commission, an agency of the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services’ Division of Health Service Regulation.
The Commission does not require information about bad debt incurred through uncollected fees for services performed. In FY15, Wake Forest Baptist had $34.3 million in bad debt, a drop of $33.2 million over the previous year. This was largely due to an increase in number of individuals who qualified for charity care and billing write-offs.
Additional information about Wake Forest Baptist’s community benefits report is available online at Community Benefits.
Media Relations
Paula Faria: pfaria@wakehealth.edu, 336-716-1279
Mac Ingraham: mingraha@wakehealth.edu, 336-716-3487