Question: Our hospital makes contributions to organizations that use the donation to provide scholarships to those in health professions education. For example, we gave a donation to a church that is supporting two students in medical school in Haiti and we gave a donation to a state foundation which gives scholarships to healthcare professionals who promise to work in our state (not our hospital) upon earning their degree. Our state has a significant number of healthcare openings. Should these donations be counted under B4: Scholarships/Funding for Health Professions Education or another category since the hospital is not directly providing the scholarships but is making a contribution to another organization who will be offering the healthcare professions scholarships.

Recommendation: Since this activity is a cash contribution to support health professionals, we recommend reporting in Category E: Cash and In-Kind Contributions. Be sure to have documentation from the organizations granting the scholarships on how those scholarships will be used.

(August 2013)