Cherry Hill<\/a>\u2019s Mayor\u2019s Wellness Walk \u2014 an initiative Jefferson sponsors \u2014 because she now understands how critical something as simple as walking can be to heart health, recovery, and long\u2011term well-being.<\/p>\nHer journey is a powerful reminder that healthcare does not stop at hospital doors. It lives in communities \u2014 on sidewalks, in neighborhood parks, and in the shared moments that bring people together to take control of their health.<\/p>\n
Today, that commitment to whole\u2011person, community\u2011centered care is more vital than ever \u2014 and more difficult to sustain.<\/p>\n
Across Pennsylvania, more than half of hospitals operate below sustainable margins. Mission\u2011driven health systems face rising labor, supply, and pharmaceutical costs, growing demand for mental health and substance use treatment, and aging clinical infrastructure. All of this is happening as reimbursement continues to lag behind the true cost of care.<\/p>\n
Hospitals in Pennsylvania are among the most underreimbursed in the country. Reimbursement from government payers \u2014 including Medicare, Medicaid, and the Children\u2019s Health Insurance Program \u2014 consistently falls short of the true cost of delivering care. Overall, commercial reimbursement in Pennsylvania is approximately 30% lower than the national median.<\/p>\n
That math does not work \u2014 not for hospitals, not for clinicians, and not for patients.<\/p>\n
Adequate, stable reimbursement matters. Private insurers must recognize the essential role mission-driven and safety-net providers play in maintaining access to care, public health readiness, and community stability.<\/p>\n
Underfunding hospitals does not save those with insurance coverage any money. It shifts costs, limits access, strains the workforce, and weakens the institutions that communities depend on most \u2014 the very institutions that were there for Denise when every minute mattered.<\/p>\n
Jefferson feels these pressures more acutely because of the populations we serve. As the largest safety\u2011net health system in Eastern Pennsylvania, we care for patients others cannot \u2014 and often will not.<\/p>\n
And yet, every year, Jefferson invests approximately $1.8 billion in programs and services designed to improve community health and expand access to care at low or no cost. This community benefit investment is among the largest of any health system in Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n
These commitments extend far beyond hospital walls. They include free and reduced\u2011cost care for patients with nowhere else to turn, trauma and emergency services that support the entire city, behavioral health and addiction treatment, community\u2011based clinics, and sustained funding for hundreds of nonprofit partners working to improve food access, housing stability, workforce development, and other critical social supports.<\/p>\n
This work is not peripheral to our mission. It is our mission.<\/p>\n
Jefferson also trains the next generation of clinicians, researchers, and healthcare leaders committed to serving this region. In moments of crisis \u2014 from public health emergencies to neighborhood\u2011level trauma \u2014 our teams respond without hesitation. We do this because Philadelphia deserves nothing less.<\/p>\n
But sustaining this level of service for more than two million patients each year requires confronting the financial realities facing mission\u2011driven hospitals.<\/p>\n
Every year, Jefferson invests approximately $1.8 billion in programs and services designed to improve community health and expand access to care at low or no cost.<\/p>\n
Our patients deserve access to the best clinicians, advanced treatments, and lifesaving research. Our colleagues deserve the resources and stability that allow them to focus on what they do best: caring, teaching, healing, and lifting up communities.<\/p>\n
Jefferson has been here for more than two centuries because we put Philadelphia first. Our future will be no different.<\/p>\n
That future depends on shared responsibility and collaboration \u2014 among health systems, commercial insurers, employers, and policymakers at the local, state, and federal levels.<\/p>\n
Public payers must ensure reimbursement reflects the true cost of care.<\/p>\n
Commercial insurers must meet their obligation to fairly support the providers that anchor access in our communities.<\/p>\n
And community leaders and residents can play a role by making their voices heard about the importance of sustaining mission\u2011driven healthcare.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s crucial that mission\u2011driven health systems continue to strengthen neighborhoods, support caregivers, and safeguard the health of this region \u2014 today and for generations to come.<\/p>\n
Joseph G. Cacchione has been the CEO of Jefferson \u2014 which includes Jefferson Health<\/a>, Thomas Jefferson University, and Jefferson Health Plans \u2014 since 2022.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to article \u2022\u00a00:00 min Philadelphia\u2019s health has always been Jefferson\u2019s purpose. For more than 200 years, we…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":390339,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[163,521,185915,85,46],"class_list":["post-390338","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-health","tag-healthcare","tag-healthcare-reimbursement-underfunding-pennsylvania","tag-il","tag-israel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390338","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=390338"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390338\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/390339"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=390338"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=390338"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=390338"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}