title: Provision of community benefits by tax-exempt U.S. hospitals.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) requires tax-exempt hospitals to conduct assessments of community needs and address identified needs. Most tax-exempt hospitals will need to meet this requirement by the end of 2013.
  
  
  METHODS
  We conducted a national study of the level and pattern of community benefits that tax-exempt hospitals provide. The study comprised more than 1800 tax-exempt hospitals, approximately two thirds of all such institutions. We used reports that hospitals filed with the Internal Revenue Service for fiscal year 2009 that provide expenditures for seven types of community benefits. We combined these reports with other data to examine whether institutional, community, and market characteristics are associated with the provision of community benefits by hospitals.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Tax-exempt hospitals spent 7.5% of their operating expenses on community benefits during fiscal year 2009. More than 85% of these expenditures were devoted to charity care and other patient care services. Of the remaining community-benefit expenditures, approximately 5% were devoted to community health improvements that hospitals undertook directly. The rest went to education in health professions, research, and contributions to community groups. The level of benefits provided varied widely among the hospitals (hospitals in the top decile devoted approximately 20% of operating expenses to community benefits; hospitals in the bottom decile devoted approximately 1%). This variation was not accounted for by indicators of community need.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In 2009, tax-exempt hospitals varied markedly in the level of community benefits provided, with most of their benefit-related expenditures allocated to patient care services. Little was spent on community health improvement.
authors.affiliation: Center for Health Policy and Healthcare Research, Northeastern University, Boston, MA 02115, USA. ga.young@neu.edu
authors.forename: Gary J
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Young
authors.forename: Chia-Hung
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Chou
authors.forename: Jeffrey
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Alexander
authors.forename: Shoou-Yih Daniel
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Eli
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Raver
mesh_terms: D002608:Charities / Q000191:economics*; D003159:Community-Institutional Relations; D004469:Economics, Hospital; D017721:Hospital Costs; D016519:Hospitals, Religious / Q000191:economics; D006801:Humans; D005791:Patient Care / Q000191:economics*; D058991:Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act; D019464:Tax Exemption; D014481:United States