Community Impact

Arkansas Hospitals and Their Impact on Our State

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. Each day, we provide care to thousands of individuals and help keep our state healthy, strong, and vibrant. This record of service is – and always will be – our most valuable contribution to Arkansas. 

Recognized much less often are the contributions hospitals make to local economies and the state economy, through the people they employ and the impact of their spending. As part of this larger picture, Arkansas 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. The total estimated annual economic impact of hospitals in Arkansas is $15.2 billion.

Together, the state’s hospitals provide 47,300 jobs, with an annual combined payroll expenditure of $3.7 billion. These dollars, earned by Arkansas hospital employees, generate approximately $6.7 billion in economic activity in the state, which creates an additional estimated 43,100 jobs. These totals – when considered alongside the impact of capital spending of hospitals, 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.  

Beyond the central role of connecting the various facets of the health care system, hospitals strengthen the infrastructures of local communities. Arkansas residents rely on their local hospitals and health systems to:

• Provide high-quality, efficient health care.
• Readily respond with care for community members throughout their lifetimes, whenever illness or injury strikes.
• Serve as a community safe harbor during and after emergencies or disasters.
• Provide an optimal setting for bringing new life into the world.
• Provide comfort at the end of life.
• Educate people about preventing and managing diseases, while promoting practices that support health and well-being.