Affordable Care Act Prompts Botsford Hospital Community Health Survey

A little known provision of new federal health care legislation has Botsford Hospital in Farmington Hills assessing the overall health of the community it serves. 

President and CEO Paul LaCasse told Farmington Hills city council members that the community-wide survey required by the Internal Revenue Service and Dept. of Treasury ensures the nonprofit hospital's "community benefit" is "transparent, measurable and directly related to the health care needs of the community."

Project leader Margo Gorchow, the hospital's vice president of community relations, said the survey is a "360-degree picture" that will include everything from access to medical care and senior health issues, to domestic violence. 

"Through that, we'll get a sense of a community's health," she said. 

Gorchow told officials that the assessment advisory council will include a broad range of participants, even some high school students. And it's not enough for them to simply assess community health. The council has to "adopt an implementation strategy. Every need identified has to be addressed," she said.

The report and plan must be submitted to the hospital's board of directors for approval in 2014 and will be attached to the hospital's annual non-profit tax return. For profit hospitals are not required to do the survey, LaCasse said.