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Hospital Community Benefit Standard

Eighteen representatives from health care systems, patient advocacy groups, and academia offered comments at a roundtable that Senate Finance Committee Republican staff convened on October 30, 2007 to examine proposals the staff had released in July. Hospital system panelists expressed concern about a proposal requiring section 501(c)(3) hospitals to dedicate at least 5 percent of their annual patient operating expenses (or revenues) to charity care, and generally opposed drawing a distinction between charity care and community benefit. Patient advocates emphasized the need for uniform definitions of community benefit and called for common standards on billing and education, and expressed the view that bad debt should not be included in the definition of community benefit. Ranking Member Charles Grassley (R-IA), who attended a portion of the session, said he has not decided whether legislation should be introduced, explaining that he hopes hospitals will voluntarily make efforts to "do the right thing."

See Senator Grassley's entire statement.

Last updated: November 5, 2007