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Community Benefit

What is Community Benefit?

Community benefits are programs and services designed to improve the health of the community and to increase overall access to health care.

These services include:

  • Charity care for those who could not otherwise afford access to care
  • Community health improvement activities
  • Subsidized health services
  • Cash or in-kind contributions to a community group
  • Health professions education

How does Grady provide Community Benefit?

Like most hospitals, Grady provides the majority of its community benefit resources through Charity Care or the provision of health care services to those in need at reduced rates or no charge at all.

Unlike most hospitals, Grady’s rate of community benefit is more than 17% of total operating expenses or nearly $170,000,000. The national average is around 7.5% of total operating expenses across all not-for-profit hospitals1.

In addition to Charity Care, Grady provides community health improvement services – such as screenings and community outreach. Grady also contributes to the education of health professionals, from doctors and nurses to patient care techs and paramedics, to ensure access to care in the future.

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How does Grady determine where to focus Community Benefit?

In 2012, Grady joined a growing movement called the Atlanta Regional Collaborative for Health Improvement (ARCHI).  ARCHI is an interdisciplinary coalition working to improve health in the region through a collaborative approach to community health needs assessment and the development of key initiatives to improve health.

Through a data-driven model, ARCHI determined the key levers through investment and collaboration that will have the greatest positive impact on the community overall

  • Adopting healthy behaviors
  • Care coordination
  • Pathways to advantage for students and families
  • Insurance expansion

In partnership with ARCHI, Grady conducts a community health needs assessment (CHNA) every three years, a requirement of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA). Through the assessment, Grady identified those areas in which our community – Fulton and DeKalb counties – has a higher level of risk and disease burden and is in greatest need of intervention.

Following the ARCHI model, Grady will work to address the following community health needs:

  • HIV/STD
  • Social Determinants of Health
  • Access to Care
  • Cardiometabolic Syndrome
  • Violence and Injury
  • Mental Health
  • Maternal and Child Health
  • Cancer

Grady already provides a significant amount of Community Benefit for the Atlanta Region. To begin addressing these health needs, Grady has developed and adopted a Community Health Improvement Plan. The focus of the plan for 2023 – 2025 is to enhance coordination and focus investments in areas that will have the greatest impact on health improvement for the community based on identified needs and evidence-based activities.

To learn more about the health needs of our community, the Grady CHNAs are available for review.

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How will Grady determine if Community Benefit had an impact on health improvement?

Grady will measure the impact of Community Benefit through the number of initiatives implemented, the number of community members touched through the initiatives, the number of collaborative partnerships developed, and ultimately the improvement of health in the community.

To provide feedback on the 2022 Community Health Needs Assessment or the 2023-2025 Implementation Strategy, please fill out the form below.