2006 Interesting Facts

1. Benefis Healthcare is a not-for-profit community asset governed by a 15-member local board of director.
   
   
2. Benefis is locally owned and controlled.
   
   
3. Benefis is the biggest non-government employer in Cascade County and in its service area.
   
   
4. Benefis' service area covers 44,814 square miles – or 14 counties in Northcentral Montana. This service area has a population of approximately 225,000 people and is bigger than Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont combined!
   
   
5. Benefis is a Level II Trauma Center – one of only four in the state and 107 in the entire country.
   
   
6. Benefis operates 1,343,390 square feet of property located throughout the city.
   
   
7. Benefis pays $296,417 in property tax.
   
   
8. Benefis is the largest provider of Medicaid in the state, providing 16.3%.
   
   
9. In 2006 Benefis Healthcare:
• Saw 35,584 patients in the ER.
• Delivered 1,384 babies.
• Performed 8,586 surgeries in our state-of-the-art, voice activated Operating Rooms.
• Treated 114,600 patients on an outpatient basis.
• Mercy Flight had 229 fixed-wing flights and 338 helicopter flights (567 total).
• Provided this community with more than $8.2 million in direct Charity Care – care we provide to the uninsured and/or underinsured who cannot, for a variety of reasons, pay for their healthcare. (This was a 17% increase from 2005.)
• Wrote off $7,293,315 in bad debt.
  
  
10. In 2006, Benefis paid $114 million to 2,334 employees in compensation and benefits. Benefis' total operating expense in the 2006 was $217 million.
    
    
11. Benefis' 2006 operating margin was at 3.8%. A healthy not-for-profit community hospital needs a 3%-5% margin.
    
    
12. Directly and indirectly, Benefis generates 7,445 jobs in Cascade County, or 20 percent of all jobs. Similarly, the $205 million in wages Benefis generates directly and indirectly accounts for 21 percent of income to families in the county. Healthcare jobs are some of the highest-paid in the Montana economy. Benefis stimulates indirectly $8 million in county tax revenues.
    
    
13. There are 230 members of the Benefis medical staff, representing 40 specialties.
    
    
14. We have 435 hard working and dedicated volunteers, who gave us 56,000 hours of their time and $36,000 in donations.
    
    
15. Benefis Healthcare is beating state and national infection rates in the surgical arena (Surgical Site Infections or SSI). The overall surgical site infection rate for all surgeries at Benefis is 0.37 percent, compared with the national benchmark rate of 2.6 percent. Benefis' rate is only one-eighth the national rate.
    
    
16. Through the Benefis Healthcare Foundation:
• In 2006, a total of 434 patients stayed completely free of charge at the two Gift of Life Housing Centers. Since the facility opened in 1991, a total of 2,978 patients have stayed there.
• The Angel Fund assists families who have a child with a catastrophic illness. In 2006, $28,403 was distributed to 57 families in need.
• The Caring for our Own program provides financial support for Benefis Healthcare employees and volunteers who are experiencing emergency situations of a serious or unusual nature.  In 2006, a total of 66 families received assistance in the amount of $31,435.
• The Healthcare Scholarship Program awarded scholarships to 55 applicants, totaling $79,041.
• In 2006, Benefis Healthcare Foundation distributed a total of $2,519,537 to assist a variety of healthcare services and programs throughout Northcentral Montana.
  
  
17. Benefis Healthcare provided $27,607,431 in community benefit in 2006. This includes charity care, unpaid costs of Medicare/Medicaid, Donations, Community Building activities, housing for patient families, free health screenings, community education, lectures, support groups, and negative margins from Renal Dialysis and Hospice.
    
    
18. Benefis is a mission driven, strategy led, locally governed community Regional Healthcare System. It includes:
• Benefis Hospitals – two campuses (with 358 licensed acute care beds)
• Extended Care/Skilled Nursing Center (146 beds)
• Sletten Cancer Institute (freestanding 54,000 sq. ft. outpatient cancer center)
• Spectrum Medical (Home Care and DME)
• Peace Hospice (freestanding 12-bed Hospice House)
• Benefis Healthcare Practitioners (Physician Corp-Employed Physicians)
• Benefis Employee Health Plan
  
  
19. Benefis Healthcare System is supported in mission, purpose and service by:
    · Benefis Healthcare Foundation (separately incorporated and governed by the Foundation Board), through:
• Philanthropy
• Endowments
• Capital Campaigns
• Gift of Life Housing (both campuses)
• Benefis Healthcare Volunteers
• Hospitals
• Nursing Home
• Hospice
• Cancer Institute
• Gift of Life Housing
  
  
20. Benefis partners with the following joint ventures:
1. The Peak Health & Wellness Center (fitness facility, Benefis 51%)
2. West Campus Imaging (with GFOA, Benefis 50%)
3. Treasure State PHO (with independent physician community, Benefis 50%)
4. New West (Benefis 1%)
5. Spectrum Home Solutions (Benefis 50 2/3%)
   
   
21. Affiliations, memberships and management arrangements include:
• Affiliations:
• Northcentral Montana Healthcare Alliance (14 member hospitals
• Montana Independents Health Alliance (six member hospitals)
• Mountain States Reciprocal Risk Retention Group (professional liability insurance captive; 17 hospitals)
• VHA Mountain States (38 members and 40 affiliates in seven states)
• Huntsman Cancer Institute Affiliation
• McLaughlin Research Institute Affiliation
• Memberships:
• VHA/Novation Group Purchasing
• Montana Hospital Association
• American Hospital Association
• United Methodist Association
• Governance Institute
• Spirit of Women
• Management agreements:
• Management contracts with Community Hospitals in Fort Benton and White Sulphur Springs
• Benefis Heights LLC (manages Benefis' Outpatient Surgery)
• MONARC (manages Ortho, Neuro, Rehab)
• Diversified Therapies (manages Outpatient Wound Care)
• ARAMARK (manages Benefis' Food Service, Laundry and Housekeeping)

If you have any questions about Benefis Healthcare, or this website, please email us. We want to hear from you!