‘Houston, We Have A Problem’: Abandoning Their Mission, Nonprofit Hospitals Have Veered Far Off Course

Abstract: According to a new report by the Lown Institute, close to 80% of more than 1,700 nonprofit hospitals studied “spent less on charity care and community investment than the estimated value of their tax breaks.” The report also found that this so-called “fair share” deficit, which was $14.2 billion in 2020, was “enough to erase the medical debts of 18 million Americans or rescue the finances of more than 600 rural hospitals at risk of closure.”