![The nonprofit clinic spent 11.7 percent of its operating revenue on community benefits. [Cleveland Clinic]](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/e6c6a4b/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1600x900+0+0/resize/840x472!/format/webp/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Flegacy%2Fuploads%2F2019%2F12%2F04%2FMiller-Family-Pavilion_003.jpg)
The Cleveland Clinic spent more than $1 billion on outreach, education and assisting low-income patients last year, according to the released Wednesday.
The report details the clinic鈥檚 spending to improve community health, including education, subsidized health services and research. Spending was up 6 percent from the previous year, bringing increases across the board.
About $471 million was spent covering Medicaid shortfalls 鈥� when the benefit program doesn鈥檛 sufficiently cover patients鈥� full cost of prescriptions and care. That鈥檚 up 5 percent .
鈥淲e continue to see inflation on the cost of providing care to [Medicare] patients, with inflation on pharmaceuticals, on medical supplies, on our caregivers,鈥� said Chief Financial Officer Steven Glass.
While spending on outreach programs went up by $3.1 million, it still dropped from 3.9 to 3.7 percent of total spending. The Clinic is working to expand outreach through its Population Health programming, Glass said.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a very different type of capability you need in treating patients that come in with an occurrence of a disease or a condition that needs to be treated, versus actually creating a delivery model where you can try and keep people healthy,鈥� he said.
The nonprofit clinic spent 11.7 percent, or $1.04 billion of its operating revenue on benefits. That鈥檚 a slight increase from last year鈥檚 10.7 percent. The Clinic is working within a tight margin to provide benefits and cover operating costs, Glass said.
鈥淵ou can only manage that community benefit and the investment inside of that 鈥� along with education, research, community programs 鈥� inside of the context of what you can afford,鈥� Glass said.
Education and training for residents and fellows was the second-highest expenditure, at $293.2 million. Another $77.7 million went to research, $130.7 million for financial assistance, and $26.3 million on subsidized health services.
The Cleveland Clinic is a nonprofit hospital system, and is required by the federal government to report its spending on community benefits each year to maintain its nonprofit status. The Clinic reported a total operating revenue of .
In 2017, the Cleveland Clinic spent $906.5 million on community benefits.
