Nonprofit hospital systems receive billions in tax breaks each year. How many of them are giving enough back to their communities in the form of charity care and programs to improve health?
Join us April 12 as we reveal which nonprofit health systems spend the most — and the least — on meaningful community benefits, and discuss the results with health experts and policymakers.
Meet the guests
Dale Folwell, CPA
North Carolina State Treasurer
Dale R. Folwell, CPA was sworn in for his first term as State Treasurer of North Carolina in January 2017. He was reelected in 2020 and is currently serving his second term. As the keeper of the public purse, Treasurer Folwell is responsible for the more than $122 billion state pension fund that provides retirement benefits for more than 950,000 teachers, law enforcement officers and other public workers.
Treasurer Folwell also oversees the State Health Plan, which provides medical and pharmaceutical benefits to more than 750,000 current and retired public employees and is the largest purchaser of health care in North Carolina. In this role, he has been an advocate for greater transparency on hospital prices and fair financial assistance policies.
Paul Hattis, MD, JD
Senior Fellow, Lown Institute
Dr. Paul Hattis, a physician-attorney, joined the Lown Institute as a Senior Fellow after retiring from his role as Senior Associate Director of the MPH Program at Tufts University Medical School and a member of the faculty in the Department of Public Health and Community Medicine.
Over many years, Paul’s policy-oriented research efforts have focused on the issues of hospital accountability to communities, and on efforts to advance consumer advocacy on health care costs and system affordability. Dr. Hattis, was appointed in 2012 as the inaugural Consumer Advocate board member on the Massachusetts Health Policy Commission. And in 2018, Massachusetts Attorney General Healey appointed Dr. Hattis to a task group that helped to revise the Massachusetts community benefit guidelines for hospitals and health plans.
Prior to his joining Tufts University, Dr. Hattis served for 5 years as the Senior Medical Advisor to the Department of Community Benefit Programs of the Partners Healthcare System of Boston, MA. Previously, he was Vice President of Medical Affairs at the Carney Hospital of Boston, a senior research professor in the Wagner School of Public Service at New York University, and deputy director of the Hospital Community Benefit Standards Program (HCBSP), a W.K. Kellogg Foundation sponsored initiative.
Jennifer Valenzuela, MPH, MSW
Chief People and Equity Officer, Health Leads
Jennifer Valenzuela brings nearly 20 years of experience building and supporting teams in the healthcare sector to her role at Health Leads, where she oversees the organization’s People, Culture and Equity strategy.
Jenn has held several leadership roles at Health Leads overseeing clinical program implementation and integration at health systems and clinics nationwide — coaching and training of staff, establishing and promoting best practices for resource navigation, and codifying the program model using data and analytics.
Prior to Health Leads, Jennifer served as director of The Young Parents Program (YPP) at Boston Children’s Hospital, a multi-disciplinary clinic dedicated to working with teen mothers and fathers. There, Jennifer learned the strengths of her Boston community as the young families demonstrated resilience, unparalleled kindness, patience and great humor.
As a licensed independent clinical social worker, Jennifer also worked in the emergency departments of Boston Children’s Hospital and Brigham & Women’s Hospital providing psychiatric and social crisis intervention. She has also been a part of the MassHealth Delivery System & Payment Reform Implementation Council and the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation Institute for Community Health Leadership program. Jennifer holds a BS from Portland State University and an MPH and MSW from Boston University.