DOWNERS GROVE, IL--(Marketwired - July 01, 2013) - Advocate Health Care, the state's largest integrated health system, announced today that it provided $614 million in charitable care and services in 2012. The total is an increase of $43 million over the previous year.

"We continually challenge ourselves to extend our services beyond our hospital walls," said Jim Skogsbergh, president and CEO of Advocate Health Care. "We are proud to have provided charitable care and services that touched so many lives last year."

Advocate provided $104 million in free and discounted charity care for the uninsured and underinsured and supplied more than $330 million in care without full reimbursement from Medicare and Medicaid. In 2012, these benefits alone totaled $434 million in health care service costs.

In addition to free and subsidized health care, Advocate also offers programs and services that respond to communities' unique needs. These include health and wellness screenings, behavioral health services, and school-based health care. Advocate also made significant investments in language-assistance programs, which offer our patients access to interpreters and other non-English patient education materials.

Contributions to other not-for-profit community organizations, as well as equipment, supplies and clinic space donations totaled $6 million. Advocate also increased its provision of medical education and training in 2012 to more than $80 million. As part of its annual Community Benefits Report, a detailed breakdown of Advocate's contributions was recently filed with the State.

About Advocate Health Care

Advocate Health Care, named among the nation's Top 5 largest health systems by Truven Analytics, is the largest health system in Illinois and one of the largest health care providers in the Midwest. Advocate operates more than 250 sites of care, including 12 hospitals that encompass 11 acute care hospitals, the state's largest integrated children's network, five Level I trauma centers (the state's highest designation in trauma care), two Level II trauma centers, one of the area's largest home health care companies and one of the region's largest medical groups. Advocate Health Care trains more primary care physicians and residents at its four teaching hospitals than any other health system in the state. As a not-for-profit, mission-based health system affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the United Church of Christ, Advocate contributed $614 million in charitable care and services to communities across Chicagoland and Central Illinois in 2012.

Continued here:

Advocate Health Care Reports More Than $600 Million in Community Benefits