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Intermountain Health tells Davis County Commission it provides $27 million in local community benefits while requesting $1.9 million property-tax exemption
Summary
An Intermountain Health representative presented the health system's annual community-benefits report, told the commission it provided roughly $27 million in benefits to Davis County in 2023 and said the hospital's $1.9 million property-tax exemption is outweighed by those benefits; commissioners asked for clarifications on statewide vs. county figures and local programs.
An Intermountain Health representative told the Davis County Commission that the nonprofit health system requests a $1.9 million property-tax exemption for hospital areas that provide charity care and that, in 2023, Intermountain's work produced a substantially larger community benefit in Davis County.
"We ask for a small property tax exemption, and then in turn we want to show you how we fulfilled that and then some," the Intermountain Health representative said during the commission's meeting, describing the presentation as the organization's routine accountability report to taxing entities.
The presenter described how Intermountain calculates community benefit using "value adjusted care," which counts discounted rates the system provides to partner payers rather than billed charges. The presenter said the county-level figures show Davis County received about $27 million in total community benefit in 2023 and that the county's requested exemption would be about $1.9 million.
Commissioners pressed for clarification when slides and spoken totals appeared inconsistent. At one point presenters referenced a statewide "total gift" and a larger dollar figure; staff and commissioners then clarified that the $27 million figure referred to Davis County specifically and that a statewide total shown on slides corresponded to a different, larger sum. The presenter acknowledged an on-screen mislabeling and offered to provide corrected, county-specific breakdowns.
The presentation covered how Intermountain directs its community investments: funding and support for clinics that serve underserved populations (including a Federally Qualified Health Center in Clearfield), community education and services, medical discounts, donations of time and money, upstream prevention programs addressing social determinants of health, and pediatric screening efforts tied to behavioral-health prevention. The presenter said charity care and community partnerships, including support for local symposiums and school-linked programs, are part of the case that the benefits outweigh the tax exemption.
Commissioners asked whether Intermountain pursues youth-focused upstream initiatives to prevent adverse childhood experiences; the presenter said the system screens for social determinants of health in pediatric visits and partners with local groups on programs such as community resilience symposiums and "hope squads."
The presenter offered to provide additional, more granular data on patient origin, counts and the methodology behind the calculations if the commission wanted a deeper review.
The presentation concluded with thanks and a brief, informal exchange; Intermountain staff handed small tokens of appreciation to commissioners before the meeting moved on to other agenda items.
Next steps: Commissioners asked staff to follow up on the data clarifications and to accept a deeper briefing on the county's line-item breakdowns if desired.
