Everyone Deserves Extraordinary Care

Equitable access to quality care is the key to creating and sustaining healthy communities. Physical health, emotional health, economic health — all of it is intertwined. And we believe access to high-quality health care is a right that everyone deserves.

BJC HealthCare has spent the last few years advancing its community health improvement efforts. We believe everyone deserves extraordinary care, and part of that is ensuring people have access to the care they need. BJC works alongside local groups to root out the causes of health disparities in under-resourced communities and reach people where they are to help them lead healthier lives. Much of the work focuses on environmental factors that create barriers to physical, mental and financial well-being, especially in communities facing the greatest disparities across the bi-state region.

Our community health improvement initiatives build upon providing continued financial assistance, education for health professionals, safety net services and traditional community health improvement programs that resulted in BJC community benefit contributions topping $951 million in 2022. Our promise is to deliver the extraordinary care the people in our communities and beyond deserve. Our investment in community benefit enables us to reach more people, expand access to essential medical care and continue building upon our long tradition of service and support.

Financial assistance

Young patient with doctor - Community Benefit Report 2021

When illness or injury occurs, the impact is more than simply physical. Patients and their families also face mental, emotional and financial stress. Through BJC financial assistance, those in need are able to get support at a time when they feel overwhelmed, scared and hopeless. Assistance takes the form of free care, reduced charges and interest-free payment plans, all based on individual need. Community benefit financial activity also includes unreimbursed Medicaid and Medicare — where the cost of providing services to patients is greater than the payment received from the government program. BJC experienced unreimbursed Medicaid of more than $321 million and unreimbursed Medicare of more than $61 million. Another category of unreimbursed care is charity-eligible care, which are bills that are never paid by those presumed to be eligible for BJC financial assistance had they gone through the process. In 2022, that total was more than $36 million.

Through all these programs, BJC provided more than $588 million in community benefit in 2022.

$168.9 million | Charity care

$36.6 million | Charity-eligible

$321.5 million | Unreimbursed Medicaid

$61.5 million | Unreimbursed Medicare

 

Education of health professionals

Health Professional - Community Benefit Report 2021

A career in health care is a calling — and some of our future health professionals know at a very young age that it’s the career they want to pursue. At BJC, high school students can begin exploring careers through job shadowing opportunities and in-depth programs for high school seniors interested in health and biomedical careers. The programs combine classroom learning with shadowing and invaluable networking with health care professionals. They are the key to getting promising young students on a focused path to a future in health care, including outstanding nursing careers that start at the Barnes-Jewish College Goldfarb School of Nursing or medical pursuits through the world-renowned Washington University School of Medicine. In 2022, BJC invested more than $168 million in the Graduate Medical Education Consortium, which supports the education of nurses, doctors, therapists, pharmacists, medical technologists and more to ensure the future of health care services.

$168.8 million | Education of health professionals (11,256 students)

 

Safety net services

Newborn - Community Benefit Report 2021

Regional trauma services. Community mental health services. High-risk obstetrics and newborn critical care. These essential services and more weave together a regional health care safety net designed to fill gaps in health care access for the benefit of the region. Such services are intensive, highly specialized and must be available at all times, without fail. They are usually subsidized, or provided at a financial loss to BJC, to ensure these specialized services are available to all who need such care.

During 2022, BJC provided $177 million in subsidized or unreimbursed care to ensure continued availability of these vital services in the greater St. Louis region and rural Missouri. In addition, BJC made contributions to local nonprofit organizations that share a mission to improve community health or raise funds for medical research. BJC’s support for community events, direct donations and in-kind donations totaled $3.4 million in 2022.

$177.6 million | Subsidized services

$3.4 million | Community support

 

Community health

At BJC, we want to see individuals AND communities thrive. To enable that, our hospitals collaborate with the community every year with programs that bring health resources and education to neighborhoods, schools, workplaces, community events and places of worship. Outreach efforts range from free COVID-19 vaccines and flu shots, to health screenings and lectures, to school nurse staffing and mobile health vans.

During 2022, BJC hospitals and health service organizations contributed more than $13 million in community health and wellness programs throughout metropolitan St. Louis, southeast Missouri and southern Illinois. These programs provided more than 333,000 individual services to children, adults and seniors.

$13.5 million | Community health programs (333,324 individual services)

 

In addition to important annual community programming, BJC built on its foundational work of 2021 to advance its community health improvement initiatives in 2022. By advancing our strategic focus to four key areas, we were able to zero in on the opportunities for the highest impact: strategic impact investments, diabetes and healthy food access, infant and maternal health, and school health and wellness.

BJC is leveraging its financial influence to boost the economies in specific urban ZIP codes that have faced historic disinvestment. Here, strategic impact investments will spur growth in minority-owned businesses while workforce development efforts will facilitate the hiring and advancement of Black employees. Hiring and promoting the hiring of diverse suppliers is another way BJC is working to boost minority-owned businesses. BJC is also helping to make the dream of homeownership a reality for many with lending assistance.

Food is key to wellness. And statistics show that type 2 diabetes is on the rise in children and adolescents. One way to combat that trend is through access to healthy food options and promoting active lifestyles. BJC’s intent is to reduce racial disparities in diabetes by providing the tools families and youth need to begin living healthier lives. BJC also supports community infrastructure that increases access to healthy food.

In addition, BJC is working to improve health outcomes for Black infants and mothers by ensuring trust and transparency and providing culturally appropriate, holistic clinical care. This includes continuing to develop partnerships with doulas and supporting doula care for patients in need.

Through community health improvement strategies, BJC is working to elevate schools into year-round leaders of wellness by expanding existing services and providing new behavioral health programming even when school is not in session. Community Wellness Hubs offer year-round programs from mindfulness to yoga to nutrition and more. To date, BJC has launched five wellness hubs in North St. Louis County and St. Louis City.

Through these four focus areas, BJC’s community health improvement efforts are making great strides to eliminate health disparities in under-resourced communities and give everyone the extraordinary health and wellness support they deserve.

For more information on these ongoing and growing initiatives, visit www.bjc.org/about/bjc-community-health.

2022 Total Community Benefit

 
$951.8 MILLION
$205.5 MILLION
FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE
Charity care: $168.9 million
Charity-eligible: $36.6 million

$ 383 MILLION
GOVERNMENT PROGRAMS
Unreimbursed Medicaid:
$321.5 million
Unreimbursed Medicare:
$61.5 million

$168.8 MILLION
EDUCATION OF HEALTH PROFESSIONALS
11,256 students
$181 MILLION
SAFETY NET SERVICES
Subsidized services:
$177.6 million
Community support:
$3.4 million

$13.5 MILLION
COMMUNITY OUTREACH
333,324 individual services
 

Team building playground - Community Benefit Report 2021