The practice of hospitals receiving massive tax breaks and then billing patients who should receive free care "is not something that really should be allowed," said Vikas Saini, president of the Lown Institute, a think tank that studies the nonprofit hospital industry. "For nonprofits, it really should not be about maximizing the bottom line," he said. More

Nonprofit hospitals in Colorado face renewed scrutiny over how much they spend locally compared to the tax breaks they receive. More

Outside the Meijer grocery store in Fairfax, Lachelle Dixon-Harris said the Clinic and other local hospitals need to help residents afford services — especially students and elderly residents. “They should have access to affordable health care that meets their needs — those who live in the community, not those who are coming from outside of the community, not those who fly in from other countries," she said. More

Nonprofit hospitals across Michigan received far more economic benefit from their tax-exempt status than they spent annually in community support and charity care over a three-year period. More

The Lown Institute issued a report April 16 analyzing federal, state and local tax benefits received by more than 1,800 hospitals across 20 states by comparing them to the hospitals’ spending on meaningful community investment. More

Saini said there isn’t a clear pattern between which hospitals choose to give back and which don’t. In fact, they often coexist. “In any given city, you can often find two hospitals — one of which is in a surplus and one of which is in a deficit,” he clarified. “So it really seems that we have a tale of two hospitals in our health care.” More

New York’s nonprofit hospital sector receives tax breaks worth more than $2 billion each year, with the expectation that they’ll provide free services and invest in their communities. But dozens are falling short on community benefit spending, a new report shows. More

The annual calculations by the Lown Institute call into question whether the value a nonprofit community hospital gives to communities lives up to the taxes it doesn't have to pay. More

Two major Des Moines hospitals fell $70 million short on community support despite tax breaks, according to a report released Wednesday by the nonpartisan Lown Institute. Why it matters: The gap raises questions about whether tax breaks are doing their job — and whether vulnerable Iowans are paying the price. More

Mount Sinai Hospital ranks the fourth highest among hospitals across 20 states for spending far more money on charity care and helping its community than what it saves through tax exemptions, according to a new report from the Lown Institute. The West Side hospital spent an average of $78 million more a year on charity care and investing in its community than it saved from tax exemptions given to not-for-profit hospitals, between 2020 and 2022, according to the report from Lown, a Massachusetts-based think tank. More