Our Commitment to Benefit the Community

In 1922, eleven visionary community leaders opened South Shore Hospital with one purpose in mind: To benefit the community by providing quality medical care, close to home.

As a not-for-profit, tax-exempt, charitable organization, South Shore Hospital serves all in medical need, regardless of ability to pay. Our organization is governed by a volunteer Board of Directors committed to balancing community needs with available resources to meet those needs.

Our Board of Directors governs how South Shore Hospital meets the health care needs of the communities it serves. Our Board follows a strategic-planning process that involves assessing community health needs, reaffirming the hospital’s mission and vision, establishing strategic priorities, and routinely monitoring the organization’s progress in achieving them. The hospital’s administrative team and physician leaders are responsible for the ongoing planning, implementation, resourcing, and evaluation of the organization’s response to identified community health needs.

The primary way that South Shore Hospital benefits the community is through our clinical programs. Our services address our region’s most prevalent medical conditions – heart disease, cancer, stroke, respiratory illnesses, trauma, diabetes. Many of our services are inadequately reimbursed by government and private insurers.

We also offer community benefits programs that are designed to meet the needs of special populations, such as at-risk youth, the elderly, the impoverished, those with disabilities, chronic and terminal illnesses. Our community benefits services generate little or no margin and would likely be discontinued if South Shore Hospital wasn’t a charity and we made decisions on a purely financial basis.

South Shore Hospital’s FY2010 Community Benefits Plan specifies actions we will take in the year ahead to advance our charitable mission by focusing on initiatives that support the principles of Massachusetts health care reform, improve the management of chronic diseases, reduce disparities in the provision of care, promote wellness in vulnerable populations, and sustain vital health services.

South Shore Hospital is pleased to work in collaboration with three of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health's Community Health Network Areas. We support and fund community health initiatives sponsored by the Blue Hills Community Health Alliance (CHNA 20),the Greater Brockton Community Health Network Area (CHNA 22), and The South Shore Community Partners in Prevention (CHNA 23).

South Shore Hospital aspires to be The Choice – trusted as the first place to turn for quality health care services. We recognize that to achieve this vision, our organization must become a fully integrated health care provider that works in close partnership with physicians, clinical affiliates, insurers, and community-based organizations.

We recognize that our tax-exempt status is a privilege – and we are committed to assuring that our actions remain rooted in community need and produce community benefit. We look forward to continuing our proud tradition of benefiting the community in ways that advance the well-being of our patients, their families and others who live and work in our region.