Salinsky Eileen
Issue Brief George Wash Univ Natl Health Policy Forum. 2007 Apr 19(821):1-19.
This issue brief reviews key aspects of the ongoing policy debate related to not-for-profit hospitals, the advantages they derive from tax exemption, and the benefits they provide to communities served. It provides a historical context for how federal standards for assessing hospitals' tax-exempt status have evolved and describes recent activities to explore additional policy changes. Legislative and regulatory actions at the state and local level are also examined. Evidence on the performance of not-for-profit hospitals in comparison to their for-profit competitors on measures of cost, quality, and access is summarized, and perspectives on the need to preserve a not-for-profit presence in health care are explored. Efforts to develop standardized metrics for measuring community benefit are described, and alternative conventions for reporting charity care contributions are discussed.
本问题简报回顾了与非营利性医院相关的当前政策辩论的关键方面、它们从免税中获得的优势以及它们为所服务社区带来的益处。它提供了一个历史背景，说明联邦评估医院免税地位的标准是如何演变的，并描述了探索更多政策变化的近期活动。还审查了州和地方层面的立法和监管行动。总结了非营利性医院与其营利性竞争对手在成本、质量和可及性方面表现的证据，并探讨了在医疗保健领域保持非营利性存在的必要性的观点。描述了制定衡量社区福利的标准化指标的努力，并讨论了报告慈善护理贡献的替代惯例。
