The economic footprint of Indiana's Community Health Centers.

• Author: Slaper, Timothy F.
• Position: Report

Beyond providing accessible, high-quality health care, Indiana s Community Health Centers (CHCs) also have a significant economic presence at both the state and county level. There are roughly eighty-five CHC facilities that operate primarily in 40 counties across the state. CHCs provide primary health care services by state-licensed professionals to community members.

This article highlights findings from a recent study commissioned by the Indiana State Department of Health and the Indiana Primary Health Care Association and conducted by the Indiana Business Research Center (IBRC). (1) The study utilized a web-based survey of CHC administrators. Seventy out of the state's eighty-one sites in operation during this period responded for a response rate of 86 percent. (2)

Methodology

The expenditure data was analyzed using IMPLAN, an input-output modeling software that tracked the economic linkages associated with CHC expenditures. (3) In a manner of speaking, this approach tracks the money that re-circulates in a local or regional economy. For example, as money moves from the nurse at a CHC to the auto mechanic, to the proprietor of the local bait and tackle shop--the money circulating through the economy. This approach measures the effect of the direct spending of a typical CHC as well as its ripple effects. Direct effects have to do with the change in dollars or employment associated with the direct spending of a CHC. (4)

In addition to estimating the economic ripple effects of CHCs, the estimated value of gifts-in-kind donated by private companies and nonprofit organizations was developed. Gifts-in-kind, such as patient medications, medical devices and non-medical supplies comprise a significant form of support for a community clinic. In a sense, state appropriation and private foundation funding leverage additional support in the form of gifts-in-kind.

CHCs also leverage resources in the form of volunteers--volunteers who would command a significant level of compensation if they were on the payroll. To estimate the value of each type of volunteer service, an equivalent occupation and compensation based on data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics was assigned. (5)

Statewide Economic Footprint

Indiana's Community Health Centers had an estimated economic footprint of $195 million. The majority of this sum, $126 million, is the result of direct spending of CHCs (see Table 1). The economic ripple effects total $68 million. For every dollar spent directly by the average CHC...