A report released by the Arkansas Hospital Association compiles statewide data on employment, payroll, purchasing, and capital spending to illustrate the central role hospitals play in the state’s economy.
According to the report, the total estimated annual economic impact of hospitals in Arkansas is more than $15.2 billion. Together, the state’s hospitals provide 47,300 jobs, with an annual combined payroll expenditure of more than $3.7 billion. These dollars, earned by Arkansas hospital employees, generate approximately $6.7 billion in economic activity in the state and create an additional estimated 43,100 jobs. These totals – when considered alongside the impact of their capital spending, estimated at $1.1 billion per year, and the impact of other non-salary expenditures, estimated at $7.5 billion per year – indicate that Arkansas hospitals are crucial to the state’s economic viability.
“Arkansas hospitals are proud to provide quality, efficient health care for our community. Our hospitals stand ready to care for everyone, with our doors open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. […] This record of service is – and always will be – our most valuable contribution to Arkansas,” the report says. What is often overlooked, it continues, is the fact that hospitals are “critical to ensuring the economic viability of our state and community. Important drivers of Arkansas’s economy, our hospitals are major employers and purchasers of goods and services, and the health care we provide also allows people to be productive, contributing citizens.”
In addition to improving the physical and economic health of Arkansas and Arkansans, the report adds, hospitals also serve communities by maintaining an active trauma response system, providing a safe harbor during and after emergencies and disasters, educating community members about disease management and prevention, and hosting mobile disease screening programs. During the COVID-19 pandemic, hospitals have not only provided care for those seeking treatment for the disease but also have played an essential role in the public health pandemic response effort.
The full report is available online at the AHA website, www.arkhospitals.org.