$2.5M in expenses
Community services for the poor and underserved rooted in our mission and tradition, the founders and sponsors of christus health and those who co-minister with them seek new and innovative ways of delivering quality health care that is both affordable and accessible to all. Today, more than ever, we must aim to improve the total health status of the community through programs that place our services where they are needed most, with special attention and preference given to programs that support and benefit the health and welfare of the poor and underserved. Community services for the poor and underserved represent the unpaid cost of services provided for which a patient is not billed, or for which a fee has been assessed that recovers only a portion of the cost of the rendered service. This category includes initiatives that reach out to those in need through community health and social programs. These programs seek justice for the vulnerable and work to bring about changes in our political and economic systems. The programs cover a broad spectrum of services from charity clinics to immunizations for children and seniors, transportation services, and a variety of other social services. Christus health ark-la-tex provides medication assistance for community residents who are unable to afford the medications they need. The hospitals work with community pharmacies and other pharmaceutical companies to identify these patients and then distribute the needed medications to them. Collaborative efforts with genesis prime care, all for kids pediatric clinic and randy sams homeless shelter provide primary care to meet the needs of the poor, underserved and homeless. Christus health ark-la-tex also supports the needs of special populations in the community by providing health screenings and education for early detection of cancer and heart disease as well as screenings and immunizations for children through a mobile health clinic. Health education programs, screenings and adult immunizations assist other targeted populations such as persons age 65 or older and african-americans. Christus health has established the christus fund to provide resources to not-for-profit agencies and groups whose vision, mission and goals are consistent with christus health's mission, values and philosophy of a healthy community. We believe that by working together, we can make a profound difference in the quality of peoples' lives and create sustainable health in our communities. The christus fund has invested a total of $295,000 in the ark-la-tex region in FY 2024. Harvest regional food bank, community healthcore, the salvation army of greater texarkana, runnin' WJ therapeutic riding center, and hands on texarkana, five community agencies serving to improve the health of their communities were recipients of these funds. Several christus regions provide indigent funding donations or grants to aid the counties in which they, or another christus region, serve. Such grants may be paid to the county directly or via another hospital or healthcare organization in the area. This charitable donation helps relieve the additional expense of health care for the indigent population within our communities that christus may not directly serve in one of our hospitals. This is a result of our mission to extend the healing ministry of jesus christ, especially to the poor and underserved. Community services for the broader community the greatest share of these expenses is for educating health professionals. In order to provide clinically trained professionals, christus health ark-la-tex cooperates with the university of arkansas medical sciences area health education center-southwest to provide support for the medical laboratory sciences program. In efforts to meet the needs for primary care physicians in the area, christus provides support for a three-year primary care residency program for physicians through the university of arkansas medical sciences area health education center-southwest. Helping to prepare future health care professionals is a distinguishing characteristic of not-for-profit health care and constitutes a significant community benefit. Christus health also used cash donations as a vehicle to help our communities. We made cash donations, in addition to grants awarded through the christus fund, to support causes like the fight against cancer, provision of a continuum of care for our elderly, HIV/AIDS and for many other equally worthy purposes. During FY 2024, christus health advocated for improving public policies, working to establish, and in some instances augment, grassroots advocacy for greater access to health care services for the constituents we serve.
