BCH In the News - Boulder Community Health’s nonprofit commitment: investing where our community needs it most (Opinion)

By Daily Camera guest opinion | openforum@dailycamera.com | Boulder Daily Camera

PUBLISHED: December 29, 2025 at 5:00 AM MST

By Grant Besser

A recent syndicated Daily Camera editorial raised concerns about the value nonprofit hospitals provide to their communities. It’s an important conversation, and one that Boulder Community Health (BCH) welcomes. As the City of Boulder’s only hospital and major health care provider across Boulder County and our surrounding communities, BCH, which has served this region since 1922, has a unique story to tell as a nonprofit, independent health system, one that deserves to be understood clearly.

At BCH, our mission is to provide our community with the highest value health care in an innovative, patient-centric environment, and our strategic vision remains to partner to create and care for the healthiest community in the nation. Our recently completed Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA), which engaged more than 1,200 residents, makes that mission both urgent and specific. The top needs identified were healthy aging (47%), preventive care (44%), access to services (38%), and mental health support (37%). The full report is available at bch.org/chna, where the community’s voice and priorities are charted in detail.

Because BCH is a nonprofit, and our “shareholders” are the community we serve, every dollar we earn is reinvested directly into addressing these needs while maintaining the high standard of care our patients expect. As one of the few remaining independent, community-governed hospitals in Colorado, BCH reinvests every dollar here at home. That reinvestment is already visible in comprehensive behavioral health services, a dedicated geriatrics program, expanded specialty services, enhancements in chronic disease management and extended clinic hours to improve access, as well as through partnerships that address food insecurity, transportation, housing stability and other social drivers of health. Through the support of our community and the BCH Foundation, we can advance programs and bring vital services to our community that would not be possible through operating revenue alone.

These reinvestments reflect Colorado’s official community benefit framework — supporting clinical care, improving community health and advancing community-building activities that address root causes of poor health.

These efforts don’t increase profit. They increase health, and we make them while operating lean. Over the last two decades, BCH’s operating margin has been around 1%, often running at a negative margin. Yet we continue to deliver millions of dollars in community benefit, including charity care, Medicare and Medicaid shortfall, subsidized behavioral health programs, patient assistance funds, and collaborative grants to local nonprofits advancing community health — amounting to close to $50 million in 2024. Each year, the value of BCH’s community benefit far exceeds the value of its tax exemption.

The editorial asked whether nonprofit hospitals across Colorado are giving enough back. In Boulder County, BCH’s answer is unequivocal: yes — and we are committed to doing even more. Our nonprofit status is not simply a tax designation; it is a responsibility. A responsibility to listen, to invest where the need is greatest, and to ensure our community continues to have a locally-governed health system capable of meeting the challenges ahead.

Our vision is clear: to partner to create and care for the healthiest community in the nation. As we move into 2026, you will see more ways we are bringing this vision to life. This includes new partnerships, expanded services, and deeper community investments, all guided directly by the feedback we received from our residents during our CHNA. We look forward to sharing more in the months ahead.

Grant Besser is vice president of Community Health & Engagement at Boulder Community Health and president of the BCH Foundation.

Want to learn more about our CHNA? Visit bch.org/chna to read the results of our 2026-2028 survey.

Curious how the BCH Foundation spends money raised? Transparency is important to you and to us – read the 2024 Impact Report and the 2025 Winter Newsletter with full details on where the funds are used and how our community is impacted.