Community Benefit
Mary Washington Healthcare has served its communities since 1899 by providing health promotion and prevention services to help people stay healthy and medical care for them when they are sick. Mary Washington Healthcare’s commitment and leadership in investing in the health of the communities it serves are focused around an overall Community Benefit Strategy.
Community Benefits are programs or activities that provide treatment and/or promote health and healing as a response to identified needs in the communities served by Mary Washington Healthcare. They increase access to healthcare and improve community health. They are not provided for marketing purposes.
A Community Benefit must respond to an identified community need and meet at least one of the following criteria:
- Improve access to healthcare services,
- Enhance health of the community,
- Advance medical or health knowledge, or
- Relieve or reduce the burden of government or other nonprofit community efforts.
Community Benefit is an integral part of Mary Washington Healthcare’s mission and is the basis for its tax-exempt status. Through community programs, services, and partnerships, Mary Washington Healthcare is effectively addressing the health needs of its communities, including the most vulnerable among us.
Mary Washington Hospital opened as an eight-room hospital 120 years ago. Since then, Mary Washington Healthcare has grown with the region to become a 571-bed, two-hospital tertiary health system. Mary Washington Healthcare provides an unmatched scope of advanced clinical services not replicated in the region, including open-heart surgery, neurosurgery, complex thoracic surgery, Stereotactic Radiosurgery, state-of-the-art imaging, a da Vinci surgical robot, and an electrophysiology lab. Mary Washington Hospital is designated as a Level II Trauma Center along with a Level III designated Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. With two hospitals, three Emergency Departments, and many outpatient facilities, Mary Washington Healthcare provides access to the full continuum of care which provides a great level of benefit to our community.
Examples of Mary Washington Healthcare’s commitment to Community Benefit include health screenings for early diagnosis and referral, preventive health education, patient and family counseling, direct and indirect support to safety-net providers, and a commitment to foster volunteer opportunities for Mary Washington Healthcare’s associates and employed and affiliated physicians with nonprofit community groups.
Since 1993, the Community Benefit Funds of the Mary Washington Hospital and Stafford Hospital Foundations have allocated more than $11 million to over 400 programs that address the areas of access, prevention and screenings, and education and lifestyle.
The following information will provide more detail to Mary Washington Healthcare’s commitment to Community Benefit.
Community Health Needs Assessment 2022
Community Health Improvement Plan FY23–FY25
Patient Financial Assistance Programs (PFAP)
Patient Financial Assistance Programs recognizes Mary Washington Healthcare’s role in providing access to medically necessary and emergency healthcare services for all persons regardless of their ability to pay. Mary Washington Healthcare commits to ensure the equitable delivery of treatment regardless of insurance status in a professional and compassionate manner that respects each individual’s dignity and privacy. Therefore, Mary Washington Healthcare provides free or discounted care for medically necessary, emergency healthcare services to persons who demonstrate financial need and meet other eligibility criteria.
Healthy Communities Partnership
Mary Washington Healthcare and the Rappahannock Area Health District launched the Healthy Communities Partnership in May 2011. The Healthy Communities Partnership was charged with completing a Community Health Needs Assessment to identify high priority healthcare needs within the regional Mary Washington Healthcare service area. The Healthy Communities Partnership established three committees: Advisory, Steering, and Communications. The Healthy Communities Partnership’s Advisory Committee is comprised of 40 community volunteers representing regional hospitals, health departments and insurers, private businesses, community-based organizations, and healthcare and mental health services providers.
The Healthy Communities Partnership’s Advisory Committee’s chief responsibilities are to:
- Provide input on all aspects of the Partnership, and
- Provide input to the Steering Committee on priority needs, resources, and healthcare goals for the community.
Community Health Information Resource Tool (CHIR)
Mary Washington Healthcare will continue to host the web-based information system providing access to high-quality data related to improving the health of the communities it serves. CHIR played a significant role in the Healthy Communities Partnership with health indicator tracking and best practice sharing. CHIR will play a pivotal role in the continuous assessment of need and the implementation of Community Benefit Programs.