The individual mandate, the IRS, and community benefits from nonprofit hospitals

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22390437

Am J Public Health. 2012 Feb;102(2):229-37. Epub 2011 Dec 15.
The impact of the individual mandate and internal revenue service form 990 schedule h on community benefits from nonprofit hospitals.
Principe K, Adams EK, Maynard J, Becker ER.
Source
Kristine Principe and Jenifer Maynard are with the College of Business Administration, Niagara University, Niagara University, NY. E. Kathleen Adams and Edmund R. Becker are with Emory University School of Public Health, Atlanta, GA.

Abstract
In response to a growing concern that nonprofit hospitals are not providing sufficient benefit to their communities in return for their tax-exempt status, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) now requires nonprofit hospitals to formally document the extent of their community contributions. While the IRS is increasing financial scrutiny of nonprofit hospitals, many provisions in the recently passed historical health reform legislation will also have a significant impact on the provision of uncompensated care and other community benefits. We argue that health reform does not render the nonprofit organizational form obsolete. Rather, health reform should strengthen the nonprofit hospitals' ability to fulfill their missions by better targeting subsidies for uncompensated care and potentially increasing subsidized health services provision, many of which affect the public's health.