Last year, Emory clinicians provided more than $80 million in charity care — a record amount — for those with no insurance of any kind, including Medicare or Medicaid, and with no resources of their own. Emory physicians also provided more than $25 million in uncompensated care at Atlanta's publicly owned Grady Hospital.

Care like this represents only a fraction of the health-related community benefits Emory provides each year, described in a report produced annually by Emory's Woodruff Health Sciences Center.

Although Georgia's economy has improved measurably since 2008, the state still has the country's fifth highest poverty rate, and the percentage of those without insurance remains stubbornly high. The impact of federal legislation to address insurance coverage will be more clear only with time, as will the effects of new care models at Emory and elsewhere to increase accessibility and affordability of care.

What does seem certain at present is that many hospitals will continue to refer patients with the most complex and challenging conditions to Emory, knowing that Emory has not only the expertise to care for them but also a long tradition of putting service ahead of reimbursement. The stories in this report illustrate that tradition.

Read the full report: Putting Service First: Community Benefits Report 2013