Social Return on Investment
Ohio University’s Community Health Programs has $63 million financial impact on Southeast Ohio
By Nick Wood | Staff writer with contributions from staff reports
Southeast Ohio is the beneficiary of roughly $63 million in social and economic gains from the Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine’s health services and clinics, most of which are free, according to a recent social return on investment analysis of the college’s Community Health Programs (CHP). CHP offers health and education services to address unmet needs in underserved populations throughout the region.
The study found that for every $1 invested by CHP through its many programs, more than $32 in social value is generated for the individuals served, including people with little or no insurance, pregnant clients and infants. Social return on investment is calculated by looking at the social, economic and environmental impacts that an organization has on the community, usually in terms of the benefits that are gained or in costs that the community avoids paying because of the services the organization provides. This can range from finding employment to preventing costly medical care, such as reducing the use of emergency rooms and helping more mothers give birth to healthy infants.
The findings from the social return on investment report, conducted by the Ohio University Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Affairs, reflect the profound impact of CHP and its three service areas on Southeast Ohio. According to the report, in 2023, the Heritage Community Clinic generated about $47 million in social value; the Family Navigator Program, which helps Medicaid-eligible pregnant clients have healthy babies, generated $5 million; and over $7.2 million in social value was generated by COMCorps, which offers paid service opportunities at partner sites in the region.
“For years, we have talked anecdotally about the difference our programs are making, but we felt it was time to quantify what that means for our community. There’s a positive ripple effect that happens when health care and health education are accessible to everyone in a community. And that positive change can be seen not only in health outcomes, but on the local economy,” said Sherry Oliver, executive director of Community Health Programs. “We now have numbers that show for every dollar invested in community health programs, there is a significant return on that investment, one that changes the community for the better.”
Heritage Community Clinic
Located within Community Health Programs in the Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine, is the Heritage Community Clinic–a free and charitable clinic serving uninsured and underinsured patients throughout Southeast Ohio. Since 1994, the clinic has provided free health care to qualifying adults throughout Southeast Ohio. The Heritage Community Clinic offers patient-centered health care, as well as referrals, education, and other resources to improve overall health and wellbeing for the patients it serves.
According to more than 90% of patients surveyed for the SROI report, without the clinics, they would have either delayed or not received any health care. Patients also felt better about their health because of the care they received and said that more of their basic needs were being met. The report found that the care provided by the clinic resulted in a value of more than $43 million in lives saved and chronic conditions properly managed.
Jason Koma is the executive director of the Charitable Health Network, a non-profit organization supporting the work of health clinics providing free services such as primary care, prescription assistance, dental, vision, behavioral health and other specialties. The Heritage Community Clinic is one of 56 free clinics serving patients in 86 out of Ohio’s 88 counties Koma helps support. “I work very closely with the Heritage Community Clinic and the work they do.”
A two-time alumni of OHIO, Koma is proud to support the work of an organization providing much needed services to the community he used to call home. By making it possible for uninsured and underinsured individuals of all ages to receive access to health care, the Heritage Community Clinic is creating an estimated $47 million in social value, according to the Social Return on Investment report. “The work that the clinic is to do, and the service they provide to the community is so impactful, so essential, and truly immeasurable. But this puts a quantifiable measure on it that shows that without this work, Athens would be a much different place.”
More on the social return on investment
Family Navigator Program
Families in Southeast Ohio are finding support in the Family Navigator Program, read more about how the program is helping to improve maternal and infant health outcomes in the region.
25 years of COMCorps
COMCorps recently celebrated 25 years of serving Southeast Ohio. Hear from the program's founder about the history it's impact.
COMCorps experience
COMCorps provides it's members a hands-on service experience. Hear from member Isla Skinner how COMCorps changed her life.
A patient's vitals are checked during an appointment at the Heritage Community Clinic.
A grade school student takes a hearing test being administered by a Community Health Programs employee.
Some of the many support services the clinic is able to provide include building capacity for schools in the region to meet state-mandated health and safety standards, reducing cost barriers to care for patients and building trust in patients who otherwise wouldn’t be able to access health care–a social return valued at over $1.7 million.
“To have our providers be able to look at you as a whole person, not look at you as someone who is less than, helps patients become more engaged in their personal wellbeing,” Koma said. “Then it can go beyond just treating them when they’re sick, and become about wellness–about taking care of yourself a little bit better, and the trust and the bond that comes from that is something that is really hard to establish, but that’s what the Heritage Community Clinic does.”
“One of the areas that I’d also really like to highlight is the work that they've done in management of diabetes,” Koma adds. Diabetes is a particularly prevalent issue in Appalachian counties in Ohio, contributing to further health complications such as vision loss, kidney disease and amputation. In Athens, however, with the help of the Heritage Community Clinic, adults with diabetes at high risk for amputation saw a 60% reduction in risk of amputation. Further, the total value of social return of the diabetes care the clinic provides is between $685,290 and $806,244.
Similar results were found in CHP’s other service areas, demonstrating that the health and education services that CHP has provided for more than 30 years have had a far-reaching impact on the entire community. The findings were compiled from surveys, administrative data and focus group interviews with stakeholders conducted in 2023.
“Without the access that the Heritage Community Clinic provides, folks would have nowhere else to go,” Koma said. “And, not only are they fulfilling a service and providing access to care that doesn't exist, but they’re also saving the system a ton of money.”
In addition to receiving free health care, patients at the Heritage Community Clinic also receive support in other critical areas–helping them overcome issues such as food insecurity, inaccessible transportation and even resources for finding employment.
Jason Koma, executive director of the Charitable Health Network, discusses the impact of the Heritage Community Clinic.
“Part of the challenge with folks who are facing, you know, many different obstacles affecting their health, is that they generally don't have time to go to five different visits at five different places for five different life altering problems,” Koma said. “So, to have someone who is an engaged audience be able to provide help on a variety of levels, that’s where that trust is established at the Heritage Community Clinic.”
All in all, Koma feels a great sense of pride in the valuable work the Heritage Community Clinic is doing in Athens. He speaks with intensity and passion, truly seeing the humanity behind the numbers in the Social Return on Investment report. “Each one of those is a mom, a dad, a brother, a sister, a family member who had nowhere else to go, and each one of those individuals is potentially a life saved,” Koma said. “Every person that comes into our clinic is healthier…we can't solve every problem, but we can try.”
Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine
© 2025 Ohio University. All rights reserved.