Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist provides a variety of community benefits to Winston-Salem, Forsyth County and northwest North Carolina. Improving health in our community, state and nation is part of the mission of the Medical Center, Forsyth County’s largest employer and the only academic medical center in western North Carolina.
The benefits provided by Wake Forest Baptist take different forms - community outreach, education, research, charity care and many other unique efforts to help those in need. In the fiscal year ending June 30, 2021, the Medical Center provided $611.2 million in community benefits, as reported to the state of North Carolina and the federal government.
Here is the breakdown by category:
Unreimbursed care. Wake Forest Baptist provided $393.1 million in estimated unreimbursed care in FY21, a $1.1 million decrease over the previous year.
Charity care. Wake Forest Baptist provided $57.8 million in charity care in FY21, a $2.9 million increase compared to the previous year. The increase was primarily due to an increase in patient volumes.
Education and research. In FY21, Wake Forest Baptist provided $125.3 million in education funding for medical students and other health care professionals and in research funding not covered by outside sources. This amount represents an increase of $5.6 million over the previous year and is due to increased faculty effort in basic science instruction as well as increased research expenses in the following areas: regenerative medicine, cancer, healthcare innovation, physiology & pharmacology, precision medicine, cancer biology, and clinical/translational science.
Community health improvement. In FY21, Wake Forest Baptist provided $25.3 million in community health initiatives, operations, and donations. This included the health system’s FaithHealth care initiatives, Brenner FIT program, athletic trainer programs in Forsyth, Davidson, Guilford, Yadkin, Wilkes, Alleghany, and Surry County schools, pastoral care counseling through CareNet network, physicians’ community health access, community donations, direct patient assistance (including free prescription drugs), rapid response team, hospice/palliative care services, and COVID-19 related costs.
Additionally, Wake Forest Baptist provided $9.7 million in subsidized operations for their Downtown Health Plaza health program, the Bethesda and Southside health clinics, School Health Alliance initiative, supportive care and behavioral health service lines, patient transportation, and other direct patient assistance (including skilled nursing).