About 80% of all nonprofit hospitals' charity care falls behind tax breaks, according to a new Lown Institute report – and some are short by hundreds of millions of dollars. More

The Cleveland Clinic is high among U.S. nonprofit hospitals not doing enough to directly benefit their communities, and University Hospitals ranks second in Ohio behind the Clinic, according to the Lown Hospitals Index 2024 Community Benefit ranking. More

Grady Memorial Hospital ranks in the top 10 of the nation’s nonprofit hospitals for spending more on charity care than what they receive in tax breaks, according to a new report and ranking published Tuesday. Wellstar Health System also showed up high on the list — 4th in the nation for community spending by nonprofit health systems.

The rankings were based on 2021 tax filings examined by the Lown Institute, a nonprofit think tank. Lown examined close to 70 Georgia hospitals.

The vast majority of nonprofit hospitals aren't providing a level of community support equal to the value of what they are receiving in tax breaks, according to a study published Tuesday.

One major benefit of being a nonprofit hospital is receiving tax exemptions on property taxes, income taxes, and sales taxes. Experts told STAT that implies a “social contract” with taxpayers, where these hospitals will help take care of the most vulnerable. But according to a new study, 80% of 2,425 nonprofit hospitals spent less on charity care and community investment than they got in estimated tax breaks. More

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

A Lown Institute report found 80% of nonprofit hospitals' charity care falls behind tax breaks, with some short by hundreds of millions of dollars. 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

"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