Pillars of a Healthy Community

Investment, Innovation, Impact

Communities with quality healthcare systems are healthier physically and fiscally, an economic reality proven by the billions of dollars generated for greater Charlotte, Mecklenburg County and the entire state of North Carolina through Carolinas HealthCare System and its operations across the region.

Direct and indirect economic impact of CHS—the result of jobs, spending, purchasing and taxation—exceeded $3 billion for the state and $1 billion for the county. A healthy economy for Charlotte, and to a large degree North Carolina, clearly depends on the economic engine that is Carolinas HealthCare System.

As the third largest public hospital system in the country, CHS’s direct impact to the North Carolina economy goes well beyond the nearly 27,000 jobs provided by the healthcare system at more than 20 facilities statewide. Positions within the CHS employment base, including more than 700 physicians, typically pay above average wages and offer more extensive benefits, and as a result create more local spending and investment including homes, durable goods and community infrastructure. Payroll spending and its resulting impact is only the tip of the economic iceberg; add on hospital capital improvements, construction of new facilities, goods and services purchased and spending by patients and visitors outside the hospital—all direct results of CHS operations.

Carolinas Medical Center, CHS’s flagship operation located in Charlotte, represents the kind of capital investment necessary to be characterized as an “economic heavyweight” in a recent Charlotte Observer article. The sprawling campus offers world-class medical services, a number of specialized centers and institutes and best-of-breed staff expertise, ranking the facility among the nation’s most advanced in a variety of disciplines. The ongoing investment in a Level One Trauma Center and the construction of Levine Children’s Hospital are two examples of singular economic impact activities that alone account for millions of dollars in spending on technology, construction and ongoing upgrades and operations. In fact, capital spending of approximately $278 million in 2006 was up 35 percent from the previous year.

In keeping with the multiplier effect of “re-circulation” of dollars generated through payroll, spending, capital investment and taxes, indirect economic impact is significant and nearly matches CHS payroll. Nearly 20,000 more indirect jobs were created through suppliers, vendors, service companies and service infrastructure positions, including teachers and other public agency employees.

Top this off with a healthy dose of sales taxes generated by system spending, corporate net income taxes and other business taxes from companies conducting business or in partnership with CHS, and you have the prescription for a vibrant, robust economy. Tax benefits in 2005 for North Carolina reached nearly $265 million and nearly $16 million for Mecklenburg County, a 23 percent increase from 2004 and a growth trend expected to continue for the foreseeable future.