Bridgeport Hospital Community Benefits

During Fiscal Year (FY) 2011, Bridgeport Hospital provided approximately $54.1 million dollars in community benefits. This figure includes $33.5 million dollars in Charity Care and unreimbursed Medicaid (at cost), $17.1 million in Health Professions Education, and over $3.5 million in community health improvement and education activities, subsidized services and in-kind contributions to community groups.

Patient Care – Bridgeport Hospital is a not-for-profit 425-bed teaching hospital located in Bridgeport, Connecticut, and is a teaching affiliate of the Yale School of Medicine. Bridgeport Hospital is a full service acute care community teaching hospital that offers more than 60 sub-specialties. In Fiscal Year 2011, the Hospital recorded 19,058 inpatient discharges and 195,112 outpatient encounters including 65,670 treated and discharged visits from the Hospital’s Emergency Department. Over 64.5% of the outpatients treated in the emergency department were Medicaid-insured and uninsured patients.

Bridgeport Hospital is the site of the only specialized burn facility between New York and Boston and a regional American College of Surgeons-approved trauma center. It is also the site of southern Connecticut’s only multi-person Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Chamber, which aids in the treatment of stubborn wounds caused by diabetes, circulatory problems, radiation, traumatic injury and other conditions. Other specialties at Bridgeport Hospital include the Heart Institute, the Norma F. Pfriem Cancer Institute, the Norma F. Pfriem Breast Care Center, the Birthplace, Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, Pediatric Asthma Center, and a Children’s Emergency Center, the Joint Reconstruction Center, advanced neurosurgical services, mental health services including inpatient care, a 24-hour emergency crisis service, geriatric assessment service and day hospital programs, a Bloodless Medicine and Surgery Program and occupational health programs for area employers.

Health Professions Education – The Hospital provides a significant amount of Health Professions Education on an annual basis for 106 medical professionals. This includes Graduate and Indirect Medical Education in the area of residency and fellowship education for physicians / medical students, the Bridgeport Hospital School of Nursing including a Student Registered Nurse Anesthetist Program, allied health education, radiology residency program, pastoral care residency program and a pharmacy program. In addition the Hospital provides a clinical setting for undergraduate training to approximately 133 students enrolled in programs outside the organization in the areas of nursing, dietary professionals, physical and occupational therapists, technicians and other non clinical areas such as marketing and public relations.

Improving Healthcare Access – Bridgeport Hospital has invested a significant amount of time and resources in the development and implementation of projects to improve health and increase access. Some examples of community programs and services that promote health and wellness are listed below.

Needs Assessment – In FY 2010, the Hospital conducted a community needs assessment through the Primary Care Action Group. The Primary Care Action Group is a community-wide group representing all primary care providers in the community plus other healthcare organizations. Bridgeport Hospital staff led the community needs assessment on behalf of the Primary Care Action Group. Bridgeport Hospital and other community partners, who are members of the Primary Care Action Group, formed the Coalition to Eliminate Obesity in Bridgeport and Stratford (later renamed Get Healthy CT) based on the results of the needs assessment. They pursued a federal grant and are utilizing the needs assessment and other data to develop implementation strategies to address the needs of the community.

Prescription Assistance – The Hospital’s Community Assistance Program assists uninsured and underserved patients to obtain expensive prescription medication and therapies for a variety of conditions through existing pharmaceutical assistance programs. A full-time dedicated coordinator for the program assisted 55 patients in the community in FY 2011, achieving an out-of-pocket cost savings for these patients of more than $527,165.