Reading Hospital

“Tower health elects the members of the governing body”

“The management of the corporation shall be vested in the board of directors elected by the member who is tower health.”

“All decisions are subject to approval by the board of directors as management of the corporation elected by the member.”

“The form 990 is prepared by hospital staff, reviewed by an external tax advisor and posted on a board portal for board members to view prior to filing. Members are alerted to information and notices. A paper copy of form 990 is available upon request for any board member unable to veiw the portal.”

“It shall be the policy of the hospital to require each board member, officer and key employee to submit in writing to the chief executive officer a list of business or other organizations of which the member, member's spouse, a decendant, or a spouse of a descendant is an officer, director, member employee or owner (35% or greater share) with which the company might reasonably enter into a relationship or a transaction in which the board member, officer and key employee would have conflicting interests. Each year a copy of the written statement will be sent to the board member, officer and key employee for updating and resubmission and by which the board member, officer and key employee shall confirm his or her awareness of this policy. All members of tower health management (including directors and vice presidents) must complete and submit a conflict of interest disclosure statement annually. Such statements are reviewed by the chief compliance officer.”

“The tower health board of directors has duly appointed an executive compensation committee (the "committee"), which is responsible for the review and approval of all compensation and benefits provided to the hospital's executive management. The committee has adopted a written executive compensation philosophy statement and an executive compensation committee charter governing the work and review process of the committee. The committee follows the procedures described in the philosophy statement and the charter when it reviews and approves the compensation and employee benefits provided to the hospital's senior management, including the chief executive officer and the chief financial officer. The committee's review analyzes every element of compensation, including current and deferred compensation, and benefits, including qualified and non-qualified benefits. The committee conducts its review and approval process at least annually, and approves compensation and benefits only to the extent that the committee has concluded that the compensation and benefits constitute no more than reasonable compensation for each executive. The committee consists entirely of disinterested members of the board, and the committee works with an independent compensation consultant to prepare and review in advance comprehensive data showing the compensation provided by similarly situated organizations for functionally similar positions. The committee also prepares a timely and thorough written record of its deliberations and conclusions. As a result, the committee's review process is designed to satisfy the procedural criteria necessary to qualify for the rebuttable presumption of reasonableness under the federal income tax law intermediate sanctions rules.”

“Same response as line 15a which includes key employees.”

“The organization does not make its governing documents, conflict of interest policy and financial statements available to the public.”

“Website: www.towerhealth.org/locations/reading-hospital the mission of reading hospital is to provide compassionate, accessible, high quality, cost effective healthcare to the community; to promote health; to educate healthcare professionals; and to participate in appropriate clinical research. In addition to its primary role as a provider of direct care, reading hospital addresses issues outside that realm that impact health and wellness. In fact, a key part of our mission means the reinvestment of our resources into these efforts, which are collectively known as community benefit. Reading hospital's community wellness department supports the hospital's community engagement and community benefit endeavors. The department's mission is three pronged and seeks to lead, partner, and invest in strategic health initiatives that target the underserved and address health disparities and social determinants of health. The community wellness department also manages the community health needs assessment and implementation process. Reading hospital's most recent community health needs assessment and implementation plan was completed in 2019 and identified and prioritized four areas of focus: access to healthcare, social determinants of health, disease prevention and management and access to behavioral health services. Throughout the 2020 fiscal year, the hospital implemented strategies to address these priority areas. Access to healthcare: one strategy identified to help increase access to healthcare services was to increase cultural awareness. A diversity and inclusion council was established at reading hospital with the mission to "foster an environment that expressly values diversity of thought, perspective, background, and experience among its employees, to make each individual feel welcome and appreciated for their unique contributions." the council is committed to attracting and retaining a diverse workforce, providing diversity and inclusion training to employees, creating employee resource groups, and promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion through events and communication activities. The council is made up of 16 staff members from a variety of clinical and non-clinical areas within the hospital. During fy2021, the diversity and inclusion council conducted 7 webinars that engaged over 1,000 staff. Topics included transgender healthcare; the holocaust, my personal story; tower health ceo roundtable; implicit bias; unconscious bias: a conversation; multigenerational workforce; and cultural awareness. The group also plans celebrations that focus on educating about and celebrating diversity, including lgbtq+, black history month, jewish american heritage month, chinese new year, etc. The council also offered a 2.5-hour diversity & inclusion training focused on implicit bias to all hospital leadership. The training allowed leadership to reflect on a number of topics including equity versus equality, healthcare disparities, cross- cultural communication, microaggressions, structural racism, and historical bias. 18 sessions were completed. The tower access project, a system initiative, was executed and created a centralized and coordinated advanced access center which is now the single point of contact for community members to find providers, schedule appointments, and access information. Reading hospital's street medicine program seeks to provide health care to some of the most vulnerable members of the berks county community - the homeless. Physician and nursing staff volunteer their time to visit homeless camps, soup kitchens, and shelters to deliver free, primary care to this often underserved and neglected population in an environment that is familiar, safe, and non-judgmental. The program offers three components: delivery of primary care services, patient case management services, and patient education on health and social services. The street medicine program is fully grant funded. Staff volunteers participate during their non”

“In fiscal year 2021, reading hospital had 352 volunteers (39,620) hours) donate their time. There are three types of volunteers that serve the reading hospital. There are in-service volunteers who come into the hospital. They go to patient care units to restock, refill patient water, provide visitor comfort to the patients and help the staff with various activities. This allows our staff to provide a higher level care to our patients. The second type of volunteer is the community volunteer. We have volunteers who hand make patient comfort items. In fy 20-21 our volunteers made 32,867 items including 13,318 face masks for the pandemic. The third type of volunteer are the friends of reading hospital who volunteer their time and talent to fund raise for special projects to enhance the patient experience and the health of our community such funding for aeds provided free of charge to all first responders in berks county and a mobile mammography unit.”

“Inpatient care - 203,050 patient days reading hospital provides 725 beds for provision of comprehensive inpatient, outpatient, and emergent care. Inpatient care is provided in 2 critical care units, 2 intermediate care units, 3 acute rehabilitation units, and 13 medical surgical units with sub-specialties that include oncology, neurology, cardiology, heart failure, orthopedics, trauma, bariatric surgery, and medical complexity. In addition, reading hospital provides comprehensive maternal child health services that include obstetrics, neonatal intensive care, inpatient pediatric medical surgical care, and pediatric emergency services. Inpatient services are supported by hospital-based hemodialysis, apheresis, and vascular access services. Reading hospital inpatient care offers the following high level services to support communities within both its primary and secondary markets: 1.regional cancer, cardiac, and primary stroke centers 2.regional transplant (kidney and liver) center 3.trauma level 1 center (only level 1 center within the county) 4.regional level iii neonatal intensive care unit 5.virtual intensive care unit (vicu) 6.charity care program in addition, reading hospital inpatient care is aligned with system programs to improve post discharge care outcomes, care across the continuum from inpatient to ambulatory setting, and decreased readmission, including 1.comprehensive population health services 2.tower health street medicine program - a program to provide health services and preventative care to homeless population within the community 3.tele-health support of heart failure patient population to help prevent readmissions through the remote monitoring of bp and weight reading hospital was magnet designated for nursing and patient care excellence in 2016 and is currently in the redesignation process; this national level designation by the american nurses credentialing center is renewed every four years. This designation indicates that reading hospital inpatient units, emergency department, perioperative services, and ambulatory care departments exceed national benchmarks for nursing quality indicators, patient satisfaction with nursing care, and nurse satisfaction. Emergency care - 100,166 emergency room visits reading hospital emergency department provides emergency, urgent and primary careservices to our community "24/7/365," regardless of ability to pay. Volume to rh emergency department ranks it among the top three in the state of pennsylvania year after year. As the area's only accredited level 1 trauma center, rh also provides immediate access through its emergency department to all specialty services, from trauma surgeons to plastic surgeons, and all areas of specialty care. The hospital also has a pediatric and psychiatric emergency department. In addition to its trauma certification, rh is the only hospital in the region to have made a commitment to accredited care in stroke and chest pain. The hospital also is a center of excellence with 24/7 certified recovery specialists on site to provide warm hand-offs to patients with opioid and other substance use disorders. The department offers sexual assault nurse examiner (sane) program with the berks county district attorney to assist victims of sexual assault. The hospital also has an emergency medicine training program, paramedic school and nursing program.”

“Operating room - 17,935 total surgeries reading hospital operates in a market served by nearly 20 specialty, investor-owned facilities, which carve out the best paying insurance plans, the highest margin procedures, and the least complicated patients to serve. By continuing to provide a full-service surgical service, rh offers the most advanced surgical options, from robotic assisted, minimally invasive surgery to a full spectrum of outpatient surgical options. And to ensure our community has access to surgical specialties that may be experiencing shortages elsewhere in the country. Rh supports its surgeons in their fellowship training and recruits and retains surgeons in areas like plastic surgery - available only during limited hours or not at all, in other hospitals in its market.”

“Mcglinn cancer institute 28,786 procedures the mcglinn cancer institute, located within the reading hospital, is primarily an out-patient facility which houses the sections of radiation oncology, hematology/oncology, and gynecological oncology. The annual total of patients who are diagnosed and/or treated here approximates 1600. Upon diagnosis, a nurse navigator contacts each patient to offer information and support. Most patients are seen in one of our multi-disciplinary clinics based on the type of malignancy diagnosed. This includes thoracic, malignant hematology, breast, genito-urinary, gynecological, cutaneous malignancies, and gastro-intestinal clinics - most held on a weekly basis. Every clinic has its specific team of providers - surgeons, radiation oncologists, medical oncologists, radiologists, pathologists, nurse navigators, genetic counselors, and physical therapists - who confer and collaborate to design a unique treatment plan for each individual patient. Every case is reviewed for possible inclusion in one of the many clinical trials offered on site. Once a plan of action has been recommended by the team, the patient is seen in consult by the providers who will be responsible for his/her course of treatment. Mcglinn cancer institute is accredited by the commission on cancer as a comprehensive community cancer program. The medical oncology practice is certified by the american society of clinical oncology through its quality oncology practice initiative (qopi) and the radiation oncology department is certified by the american college of radiology. In addition, the breast program at reading hospital is accredited by the national accreditation program for breast centers. The cancer center offers a three-year hematology/oncology fellowship program and students from various programs (ex: jefferson university, gwynedd mercy university, arcadia university) are assigned clinical rotations at mcglinn for genetic counseling, radiation therapy technology, and physician assistant training.”

“Expenses incurred in providing various other medically necessary healthcare services include but are not limited to: revenue expense radiology 183,615,510 30,935,796 rehabilitation/physical therapy 49,791,285 25,292,025 trauma center 4,970,690 3,068,372 transplant center 187,399 2,833,726 pharmacy 52,532,766 44,459,819 reading hospital provides services to all individuals in a non- discriminatory manner regardless of race, color, creed, sex, national origin, or ability to pay. Fy20: reading hospital saw a large decrease in revenue due to the postponement of non-urgent procedures and the cancellation of elective surgeries. Offsite labs, radiology centers and physician practices were closed causing a decrease in patient visits. Operating expenses increased due to the high demand for personal protective equipment (ppe) for staff and patients and other covid related expenses. A strong emphasis was placed on safety for our patients and staff. As a healthcare organization, we worked to inform the community that delaying healthcare needs places an individual's health at risk. Reading hospital invested in expanding digital, virtual andtelehealth services to stay connected with their patients. Fy21: throughout the many challanges we have faced during the pandemic, reading hospital employees continue to do what it takes to support their peers and provide excellent care for our patients. Reading hospital continues to respond to the surges that have occurred throughout fy21 which puts a greater demand on staffing and increased supply costs relting to personal protective equipment. The greater demand on staffing has created salary challanges which escalated costs. Reading hospital continues to rely on our workforce labor pool to help us meet the staffing challenges. The increased supply costs realting to personal protective equipment still continue as changes have occurred in regards to the requirements for additional protective equipment, and social distancing.”

“Other program fees 23,668,317 0 0 other fees 0 56,176,148 0 other fees 6,597,902 0 0 other fees 1,440,478 0 0 other fees 891,781 0 0 physician fees 24,075,100 5,363,629 0 total 56,673,578 61,539,777 0”

“Intercompany asset transfer -235,961,345 assets released from restriction -105,513,704 pension liability 79,949,719 corporate income tax 3,857 other changes -2,408 total -261,523,881”