2022 Economic Impact Report

Arkansas Hospitals

2022

ECONOMIC IMPACT REPORT

Arkansas hospitals are proud to play a central role in keeping our communities healthy, strong, and vibrant

INTRODUCTION Arkansas hospitals are proud to provide quality, efficient health care for our community. Our hospitals stand ready to care for everyone, with our doors open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. Each day, we provide care to thousands of individuals and help keep our state healthy, strong, and vibrant. This record of service is – and always will be – our most valuable contribution to Arkansas.

Throughout our state, hospitals strengthen the infrastructures of local communities. Arkansas residents rely on their local hospitals and health systems to: 

Provide high-quality, efficient health care.

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Readily respond with care for community members throughout their lifetimes, whenever illness or injury strikes.

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Serve as a community safe harbor during and after emergencies and disasters.

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Support COVID-19 pandemic response efforts by providing education, prevention, early identification, and treatment.

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Provide an optimal setting for bringing new life into the world.

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Provide comfort at the end of life.

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Educate people about preventing and managing diseases, while promoting practices that support health and well-being.

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Attract new health care services, businesses, and industries to our communities – resources that are essential for future growth.

Recognized much less often are the contributions hospitals make to local economies and the state economy, through the people they employ and the impact of their spending. As part of this larger picture, Arkansas hospitals are critical to ensuring the economic viability of our state and community.

Important drivers of Arkansas’s economy, our hospitals are major employers and purchasers of goods and services, and the health care we provide also allows people to be productive, contributing citizens.

CALCULATING THE TOTAL IMPACT OF ARKANSAS HOSPITALS TOTAL JOBS PROVIDED/CREATED

90,400

ECONOMIC IMPACT

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Payroll impact Non-salary spending impact Capital spending

$6,669,488,000 $7,454,622,000 $1,115,716,000

TOTAL IMPACT

$15,239,825,000

This report highlights the significant role that Arkansas hospitals play in our state and beyond. It identifies and measures the direct involvement of our hospitals in the local economy and demonstrates the “ripple” effect of the dollars the health care sector brings into the state and the jobs it helps create. In addition, it illustrates the benefit hospitals provide in building a safe, stable, and healthy community. A technical addendum to the reported data is available upon request.

AN ECONOMIC DRIVER FOR OUR STATE In addition to enhancing the health and well-being of the communities it serves, Arkansas hospitals also contribute significantly to the area’s economic health. In 2020, the estimated total annual economic impact of Arkansas hospitals was $15,239,825,000.

HOSPITALS PROVIDE WELL-PAID, CONSISTENT EMPLOYMENT, AND ARE OFTEN AMONG THE TOP EMPLOYERS IN THEIR COMMUNITIES

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Arkansas hospitals employ 47,300 individuals, with a total payroll of $3,689,896,000. Hospital payroll expenditures serve as an important economic stimulus, creating and supporting jobs throughout the state and in local economies.

Dollars earned by Arkansas hospital employees and spent on groceries, clothing, mortgage payments, rent, etc., generate approximately $6,669,488,000 in economic activity and create an additional 43,100 jobs in the local economy.

HOSPITALS STIMULATE THE LOCAL ECONOMY WITH PURCHASES OF GOODS AND SERVICES

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Arkansas hospitals spend about $4,124,272,000 per year on the goods and services they need to provide health care – things like medical supplies, electricity for buildings, and food for patients. Funds spent to buy goods and services flow from the hospital to vendors and businesses, creating a ripple throughout the economy.

Dollars spent by Arkansas hospitals generate approximately $7,454,622,000 for the local economy.

HOSPITALS’ CONSTRUCTION AND CAPITAL SPENDING BOLSTERS THE ECONOMY AND IMPROVES INFRASTRUCTURE FOR ALL ARKANSAS RESIDENTS

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In 2020, Arkansas hospitals spent $617,270,000 on buildings and equipment.

Capital spending by Arkansas hospitals generates approximately $1,115,716,000 for the local economy per year.

A ZONE OF SAFETY Communities can take comfort in knowing that their local hospital has risen to the challenge of the COVID19 pandemic and is preparing, today, for the challenges of tomorrow. In this new world, hospitals do more than provide medical care to the community. Hospitals are a place of refuge, food, shelter, and information in times of distress.

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Hospital doors are always open, and during the pandemic, our hospitals have provided health services to the thousands of Arkansans seeking care for COVID-19, while also acting as essential partners in public health’s pandemic response effort. They established testing, treatment, and vaccination infrastructure, developed new telemedicine programs to reach people in their homes, and created additional ICU and negative pressure beds to meet critical demand. Today, they are important partners in the effort to vaccinate against COVID-19, enable access to new therapeutic options, provide outreach and education across the state, and are vital in the effort to reach rural and underserved communities.

Hospitals are always prepared to respond to emergencies.

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COVID-19 Response, Treatment, and Prevention: During the pandemic, hospitals have provided health services to the thousands of Arkansans seeking care for COVID-19, while also acting as essential partners in public health’s pandemic response effort. They established testing, treatment, and vaccination infrastructure, developed new telemedicine programs to reach people in their homes, and created additional ICU and negative pressure beds to meet critical demand. Today, in addition to providing treatment, they are important partners in the effort to vaccinate against COVID-19 and are vital in the effort to reach rural and underserved communities.

Rapid, Effective Responses to Mass Trauma Events: The highly trained professionals at our hospitals respond to all manner of natural and man-made disasters. A March 2022 shooting at a car show in Dumas injured at least 28 people. However, because of the heroic actions of our first responders and hospital personnel – and coordination among hospitals in the region – remarkably, there was only a single fatality. Arkansas hospital personnel continue to prepare for the unexpected and stand ready to care for those most in need.

Trauma System: The statewide trauma system, established by Act 393 of 2009 and coordinated by the Arkansas Department of Health, assures that citizens in crisis are appropriately evaluated, triaged, and transported to hospitals best able to care for their injuries. Sixty-one hospitals in Arkansas have met the criteria and gone through the process to become designated Trauma Centers, and six have met the highest level of designation, Level I. The trauma system has been credited with decreasing the state’s preventable death rate by nearly half and saving more than $180 million per year.

A GOOD NEIGHBOR 

Arkansas Hospitals offer health promotion and disease prevention services to support the wellbeing of members of our communities.  Health Promotion Outreach: Through programs aimed at preventing disease before it occurs, hospitals save individuals and the state millions of dollars in treatment costs and lost earnings. Many hospitals host vaccination clinics and health fairs or participate in other organized community events, providing risk assessments, health promotion material, and healthcare access help and information.  Early Evaluation for COVID-19 and Access to Emerging Therapeutics: Some of the first access points for COVID-19 testing in Arkansas were provided by hospitals, who were quick

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to develop drive-through testing sites to provide this essential public health service within their communities. Since monoclonal antibody treatments and other early therapeutics became available beginning in late 2020, many have also established outpatient treatment programs to reduce the risk of newly-diagnosed COVID-19 patients developing severe disease.

Mobile Disease Screening: Hospitals provide screening programs to detect medical conditions in the population earlier, thus lowering the costs of treatment. Many screenings are offered in conjunction with health fair activities, such as Conway Regional System’s annual Women’s Health Fair, which offers cholesterol and glucose screenings, blood pressure checks, and bone density scans. Other screening services are offered through mobile facilities, such as the mobile mammography units operated by the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and Mercy Hospital Northwest. Mobile disease screenings bring these valuable tools to geographically remote areas that lack easy access to healthcare resources.

Services to Combat Food Insecurity: Arkansas has one of the highest rates of food insecurity in the nation. Recognition of this public health problem has led hospitals to reach out to their communities to provide nutritious food to children and families. Some, such as Arkansas Children’s Hospital, have developed programs including neighborhood food pantries, summer and afterschool meal programs, and WIC and SNAP application assistance.

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Hospitals help people access essential services and information.  Health Insurance Access: Hospitals have played a key role in assuring the success of the Health Insurance Marketplace and Medicaid Expansion in Arkansas, by helping connect people to marketplace insurance or Arkansas Works (formally called the Private Option).

Hospitals throughout the state have had staff become certified application counselors and inperson assisters, to directly help people seeking access. Some, such as Washington Regional Medical Center, have devoted space within their facilities to publicly accessible computer stations, where people can apply for coverage or fulfill the state’s reporting requirements, and many have also supplied wireless internet access. Since the launch of these programs in 2013, Arkansas’s uninsured rate has dropped by more than half.  Medical-Legal Partnerships (MLPs): Personal and legal barriers, such as insurance denials, safe housing issues, and personal safety concerns can make it difficult for a person to address and recover from health problems. MLPs are innovative and effective collaborative agreements between hospitals and legal-aid organizations and serve as free resources for people in need. Arkansas has seven MLPs, involving hospitals in many areas of the state.

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The vital health care services provided to our communities represent the core contribution provided by Arkansas Hospitals. In 2019, the most recent year with data available, our hospitals had:  365,395 inpatient visits,  4,914,195 outpatient visits and procedures,  1,556,206 emergency room visits, and  34,678 births.

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Other key indicators include:  105 Hospitals of all types are members of the Arkansas Hospital Association and serve Arkansans living in cities, towns, and communities located in 53 counties across the state.

They include 74 general acute care community hospitals (including 28 Critical Access Hospitals), six long-term care hospitals, eleven psychiatric hospitals, five rehabilitation hospitals, as well as two Veterans Affairs hospitals, two pediatric hospitals, and a women’s hospital.  40 Arkansas counties are served by a single hospital.  44 Arkansas community hospitals have fewer than 100 beds. Twenty-eight of them are designated by the federal government as Critical Access Hospitals.  36 Arkansas counties count hospitals among their top five employers. In 21 counties, a hospital is among the top three employers, providing stable, well-paying employment to residents in small, rural communities.  62% of AHA member hospitals are charitable, not-for-profit organizations, while 25% of the hospitals are operated by private, for-profit corporations, and 13% are public hospitals owned and operated by a city, county, state, or federal government.  $442 million in charity care was provided by Arkansas hospitals in 2019 for patients who could not afford to pay for the cost of their services.

CONCLUSION Hospitals are a key ingredient to Arkansas’s quality of life and to keeping communities healthy and vibrant.

Arkansas hospitals are a major contributor to both the local and state economies and to keeping families healthy and secure by providing needed health care services.

The data and information contained in this report provide strong evidence that the economic benefit of our hospitals to the local and state economies is significant. To continue to attract jobs to and maintain families in Arkansas, it is critical that the state has high-quality health care providers and services.

We urge our legislators, members of Congress, and community leaders to recognize that our hospitals are instrumental in supporting the state and local economy and that steps need to be taken to continue to invest in our state’s health care system.