Roughly 120 statewide hospitals racked up tax exemptions estimated to value $4.2 billion in 2021, but collectively they only spent $3.2 billion on community benefits such as financial assistance or free health clinics, according to an analysis released today by the Lown Institute, a Boston-based health care think tank. More
Four in five nonprofit hospitals are spending less on community benefit areas like financial assistance than what they are estimated to receive in tax breaks, according to the latest annual report from the Lown Institute looking at 2021 IRS filings. More
The Lown Institute analysis found the total fair share deficit of nonprofit hospitals reached $25.7 billion. The institute said that would pay off the medical debt of everyone living in California, Texas, New York and Pennsylvania combined. More
Here are 10 hospitals that had the largest fair share surpluses, meaning their spending on community investments exceeded the value of their tax exemption in 2021, according to Lown. They are listed in descending order based on surplus amount. More
Some 86% of nonprofit hospitals in Illinois that were studied by the Lown Institute give back less to their communities than they receive in tax breaks, the Boston-based health care think tank said March 26. More
Are nonprofit hospitals giving back as much as they take in tax break? More
"If nonprofit hospitals want to enjoy those tax breaks, they need to do more to justify them," Saini said in an interview. "What we're trying to encourage is more community leaders to ask questions about that, because simply saying 'we train doctors, we do research and we lose money on Medicaid' is not sufficient any more. These are big, big businesses." More
Steward Health Care, a for-profit system formerly owned by a private equity firm, is selling nine hospitals in Massachusetts, after running out of money to run the hospitals. Here's what happened, and what the fallout might mean for Massachusetts communities. More
Communities invest in their local nonprofit hospitals through big tax breaks. Are hospitals giving back their fair share in return? To find out, the Lown Institute analyzed hospital community investments compared to the value of their tax breaks—what we call “Fair Share Spending.” More
Suppose you are an individual who makes $21,870 per year, or 150% of the federal poverty level (FPL), and have come to the hospital for treatment. Would you be eligible for financial assistance to help these expenses? It depends on where you live. More
Non-financial measures should be part of the conversation when setting CEO pay, said Dr. Vikas Saini, president of the Lown Institute, a Massachusetts-based group that evaluates executive compensation, but there's virtually no public information on exactly how nonprofits grade their CEO's performance on things like quality, safety and patient experience. More
In terms of “how well hospitals invest in community health,” a health-focused think tank, the Lown Institute, graded our three hospitals as average: Hartford Hospital earned a B grade, and the University of Colorado Hospital and the vaunted Cleveland Clinic both earned a C. More
Emerging evidence shows that the influence of private equity in healthcare demands attention. Here’s what’s in the latest research. More
Last Tuesday, we revealed the winners of the 7th Annual Shkreli Awards. As shocking as that list is, what's even worse is that it's only the short list of all our nominees... More
Academic medical centers in Massachusetts are often ranked among the best in the nation, but data gathered by the Lown Institute of Needham suggests they lag behind their peers nationally in several key categories. More
Hospital watchdogs have started collecting valuable data on hospital billing practices. Here are the results from one such study. More
A top New York hospital that long shielded an ob/gyn from complaints of sexual abuse and a large non-profit Catholic health system that paid its CEO $35.5 million for one year topped this year's "Shkreli awards' More
The 7th Annual list contains the "most egregious examples of profiteering and dysfunction in healthcare," decided by a panel of 19 judges who are patient activists, clinicians, health policy experts and journalists. The awards are organized by Lown Institute, a nonpartisan think tank that measures hospitals' and health systems' social responsibility. "When you see all these stories in one place, they stop being anecdotes and start to tell a bigger story," Vikas Saini, MD, president of the Lown Institute, said. "The need for more fairness and integrity in U.S. healthcare couldn't be clearer." More
A $35 million CEO salary, hospitals that hawk medical credit cards, and a physician placing 41 stents in a single patient are among this year’s winners. BOSTON, MA – The Lown Institute, a healthcare think tank, has released the seventh edition of its Shkreli Awards, given each year to perpetrators of the most egregious examples […] More