Tax-exempt challenges warrant hospitals' attention.

The tax-exempt status of not-for-profit healthcare organizations is being questioned and sometimes challenged on Federal, state, and local fronts. While the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has created a special program for randomly auditing not-for-profit organizations, Congress is expected to consider legislation that would mandate the amount of charity care and community benefits a tax-exempt hospital must provide in relation to its tax-exemption value. Familiarity with IRS and Congressional activity, as well as with cases in which a hospital's tax-exempt status has been challenged in court, may provide guidelines for hospitals to assess their vulnerability.