title: Evaluating hospitals' provision of community benefit: an argument for an outcome-based approach to nonprofit hospital tax exemption.
abstract: Nonprofit hospitals are exempt from federal income taxation if they pass organizational and operational tests, including satisfying the community-benefit standard. Policymakers, however, have questioned the adequacy of the community benefits that nonprofit hospitals provide in exchange for these exemptions. The Internal Revenue Service recently responded to these concerns by redesigning its tax forms for nonprofit hospitals. The new Form 990 Schedule H requires nonprofit hospitals to provide additional information about their community-benefit activities. This new reporting requirement, however, places an undue focus on input-based community-benefit indicators, in particular expenditures. We argue that expanding the current input-based reporting requirement to include not only monetary inputs but also population health outcomes would achieve greater benefit for society.
authors: Department of Health Management and Policy, School of Public Health, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2029, USA. rubind@umich.edu
authors: Daniel B
authors: DB
authors: Rubin
authors: Simone Rauscher
authors: SR
authors: Singh
authors: Peter D
authors: PD
authors: Jacobson
mesh_terms: D003159:Community-Institutional Relations; D006291:Health Policy; D006788:Hospitals, Voluntary / Q000191:economics*; D006801:Humans; D009939:Organizations, Nonprofit / Q000191:economics*; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D019464:Tax Exemption / Q000191:economics*; D013660:Taxes / Q000191:economics*; D017664:Uncompensated Care; D014481:United States