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Sarah Bush Lincoln Alerts

Social Accountability 2025

As a not-for-profit provider of healthcare, Sarah Bush Lincoln Health Center leadership and staff happily shoulder the social responsibility to provide care and resources to members of the community who are in need-- regardless of their personal circumstances. The public trusts us to conserve our resources and use them wisely, while it looks to us for leadership, partnership and collaboration on a variety of projects.

To that end, we provide high quality healthcare to people regardless of their race, creed, sex, national origin, handicap, age or ability to pay. Although reimbursement for services is critical to the operation and stability of SBLHC, we recognize that not everyone is able to afford essential medical services. Since it is our mission to provide healthcare and education to all members of the community, we provide:

  • both free and subsidized care,
  • care to persons covered by government programs at below-cost reimbursement and,
  • health activities and programs to support the community at large

During the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2025, we served 9,630 inpatients and provided 545,559 outpatient services. We sponsored numerous wellness and community education programs, special programs for older residents and the medically underserved, and a wide variety of community support activities.

This information outlines the many programs and services provided by SBLHC during fiscal year 2025, most of which are on-going. We make this information available to you so you have a better understanding of our mission, including the ways in which our resources are used within the community. We are firmly committed to providing exceptional care and creating healthy communities, and we trust you’ll see that our actions match our words.

Summary 

We have categorized our community social responsibility statement to correspond with our strategic goals. The following is a snapshot of our activities for fiscal year 2025. Each program is further described throughout this booklet.

Improve Patient Experience and Loyalty    $23,699

  • AdvantAge 50
  • Dine with a Doc

 Improve Clinical and Operational Quality    $1,988,712

  • Community Health Screens
  • Sarah Bush Lincoln Dental Services 
  • Health Education
  • Heart to Heart Community Screening Program
  • Regional Behavioral Health Network
  • Sarah Bush Lincoln Website
  • Support Groups

Enhance Human Capital    $25,986

  • Health Occupations

 Create Healthy Communities    $585,610

  • Community Aid
  • Organizational Support
  • Healthy Kids
  • Reach Out and Read
  • Rotary High School Athletic Heart Scan
  • Sports Physicals

Maintain Financial Viability    $67,524,912

  • Financial Assistance
  • Governmental Insurance Programs

Improve Patient Experience and Loyalty

AdvantAge 50 
This free membership group is open to anyone 50 years old or better. It provides health information and social outings, as well as a variety of discounts. The non-reimbursed cost to SBLHC is $14,994.

Dine with a Doc
Doctors/mid-levels hosted a series of lunch programs focusing on a wide variety of health topics.  The non-reimbrused cost to SBLHC is $8,705.

Improve Clinical and Operational Quality

Community Health Screens
Preventive health screens are available for free and at reduced costs both at the Health Center and at outreach locations. Tests screen for various cancers and measure cholesterol levels, pulmonary function, bone density, blood pressure and body fat. Blood sugar analysis and vision/glaucoma screenings are also provided, as are workshops focused on lifestyle modification. The net non-reimbursed cost of these services after discounted fees and grant funding was approximately $80,882.

Sarah Bush Lincoln Dental Services
Sarah Bush Lincoln Dental Services is a collaborative community effort that provides dental care at no cost to families who qualify. The staff consists of dentists, dental hygienists, dental assistants, support staff and volunteer dentists.  The program serves a nine-county service area including Clark, Coles, Cumberland, Douglas, Edgar, Effingham, Jasper, Moultrie and Shelby.  More than half of the student population in our partnering schools qualify for dental services.  Through the SBL Dental Services, preventative and restorative dental care is provided to children without means to improve their health and self-esteem through a collaborative effort between Sarah Bush Lincoln Health System, Lakeland College Dental hygiene Program, seven volunteer dentists and six local health departments. Sixty six schools particiapate in a 10-county region. The net non-reimbursed cost of these services after discounted fees and grant funding was approximately $5,560.

Health Education
Health-related educational programs are offered in many settings throughout the community on such topics as nutrition, diabetes, depression, eating disorders, sleep disorders, osteoporosis, hypertension, exercise, cardiac health, cancer, bereavement, living wills and pre- and post-natal care of mothers and infants. Health Styles, the Health Center’s quarterly outreach magazine, provides health information and is distributed to 97,000+ households in a ten-county area at a cost of $109,100.

Heart to Heart Community Screening Program
Heart to Heart is a community cardiac screening program that provides affordable heart disease screening and education.  It includes baseline EKG, blood pressure, coronary CT calcium scoring, lipid profile, renal function testing, etc. for a $95 charge that does not cover costs for testing, administration of the program and program promotion.  The net non-reimbursed cost of this service to SBLHS is $1,436,617.

Regional Behavioral Health Network
Sarah Bush Lincoln, the Coles County Mental Health Center (now Life Links) and the Human Resources Center of Edgar and Clark counties joined forces to create the Regional Behavioral Health Network, an organization that streamlines access to mental healthcare for people in crisis. Together, the three organizations estimate they respond to about 3,000 crises inquires for behavioral health services annually. The collaborative effort is partially funded by grants. The Health Center’s direct and in-kind non-reimbursed cost was $85,000.

Sarah Bush Lincoln Website
The Health Center’s website, www.sarahbush.org, provides area residents with access to accurate medical information about illnesses, tests and treatments, and it offers them a place to store their own health information. The cost of maintaining the site was $236,651.

Support Groups
Support groups assist those affected by cancer, ostomy, stroke, ADD, ADHD, poor pulmonary function, loss of a child through miscarriage and stillbirth, nutrition and certain cardiac events. The non-reimbursed cost of providing education and resources was approximately $34,902. 

Enhance Human Capital

Health Occupations
The Health Occupations program provides area high school students with the opportunity to learn more about healthcare. The collaborative program runs throughout the school year, provides job shadowing for students and frequent interaction with practicing professionals. Students graduate with a Certified Nurse Assistant certificate. The non-reimbursed cost of providing classroom space for training was $25,986.

Create Healthy Communities

Community Aid 
SBLHC assisted missions in various areas and local projects with healthcare needs by donating medical supplies and equipment. The cost was approximately $168,519.

Organizational Support (cash and in-kind gifts)
Being a good neighbor means supporting the efforts of local and regional organizations with similar missions. The Health System gave direct financial support, staff time, the use of Health Center facilities, and other resources in excess of $144,174 to community organizations and/or projects, including but not limited to:

  • Coles County Dial-a-Ride, a service that transports local residents to their physicians’ offices 
  • American Heart Association Heart Walk, to support cardiovascular research 
  • American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life, to support cancer research 
  • Coles County 4-H auction, to support education 
  • Hope House, homeless shelters and food pantries, an area school through our adopt-a-school program to support education, multiple sports teams in Charleston, Mattoon, Neoga, and Casey to help foster active lifestyles in our youth 
  • YMCA Run for Bagel, to support health and tourism 
  • Charleston Community Theatre, to support the arts 
  • American Diabetes Association Walk, to support research 
  • March of Dimes walk, to support research 
  • Habitat for Humanity, to help build affordable, quality homes 
  • Various community festivals, to support fitness and tourism 
  • PeaceMeal, to deliver meals to the communities

We also lend support to Coles County United Way, Rotary International, CCAR Industries, Coles Together, Coles Community Health Plan, area chambers of commerce, and other agencies by participating in their fundraising events, boards and committees. In addition, SBLHC supports a wide variety of school activities by sponsoring programs and newsletters so students have a more fulfilling school experience.

Healthy Kids
The Healthy Kids program at SBL is designed to help children build lifelong healthy habits by empowering them to make good choices that support their overall well-being. Through engaging lessons and activities, the program emphasizes eating nutritious foods, reducing sugary drink consumption, limiting screen time, and staying physically active. Because children are often more open and enthusiastic about adopting lifestyle changes than adults, Healthy Kids focuses on reaching them early—giving them the tools, confidence, and motivation to make positive decisions that can lead to healthier futures. The program is currently offered in 26 schools across Clark, Coles, Cumberland, Edgar, Jasper, Moultrie, and Shelby counties. The cost of this program to SBLHC is $236,084.

Sports Physicals
Orthopedic surgeons and family practice physicians partner with area schools to provide sports physicals for athletes. Students pay $20 per physical, a fee that is then donated to their schools’ booster clubs by SBLHC. Some 631 sports physicals were provided at a cost of $12,620.

Maintain Financial Viability

Financial Assistance
Traditional charity care covers services provided to persons who cannot afford to pay for their healthcare. The Health System provides care to patients who meet certain criteria under the financial assistance policies without charge or at amounts less than their established rates. Effective January 1, 2005, the Health System adopted a new charity care policy that significantly expanded the availability of financial assistance for patients of the System. The policy gives financial assistance in some cases at four times the federal poverty guidelines. The amount of charges foregone for services and supplies furnished was $13,145,000 for the year and the cost of those services after contributions and other direct assistance was $4,066,520.  

Governmental Insurance Program
Unpaid cost of public programs for treating Medicare, Medicaid, and other governmental programs in excess of government payments was $63,458,392 during the year.