Question: If a health need has been identified in a community health assessment and a grant (state, federal or local funding) has been received to fully fund programs and staff to address the health need, since there is no expense to the hospital, what if anything can a hospital count for community benefit?
Recommendation: We recommend reporting the program expense (if it meets the definition of community benefit) in the total expense column of schedule H, then offsetting it with the amount of the grant. Reporting the total expense shows your commitment to meeting the needs and grant funding may not be guaranteed for the program after a certain amount of time.
(July 2022)