The ‘Wild West’ of Hospital Charity and the DFW System Recognized for its Community Investment
60% of U.S. hospitals are nonprofit hospitals. The non-partisan Lown Institute estimates those institutions receive $30 billion in tax breaks each year. The institute recently evaluated nonprofit hospitals for their community benefits. They found that three-quarters received more in tax breaks than the hospitals spent on charity care or other community benefits. More
And an April report by the Lown Institute, a health care think tank, said more than 1,350 nonprofit hospitals have “fair share” deficits, meaning the value of their community investments fails to equal the value of their tax breaks. “With so many Americans struggling with medical debt and access to care, the need for hospitals to give back as much as they take grows stronger every day,” said Vikas Saini, president of the institute.