The Hilltop Institute at UMBC has released a new issue brief, “Hospital Community Benefits after the ACA: Building on State Experience.” The brief takes a closer look at three aspects of community benefits affected by the Affordable Care Act (ACA) §9007, “Additional Requirements for Nonprofit Hospitals”: community health needs assessment; hospital financial assistance and billing and collection policies; and community benefit reporting and oversight strategies. The brief considers each of these issues against a backdrop of federal and state experience and practice. It is the second in a series, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Kresge Foundation, to be published over three years.
Hilltop’s Hospital Community Benefit Program, directed by Donna Folkemer, is the central resource created specifically for state and local policymakers who seek to assure that tax-exempt hospital community benefit activities are responsive to pressing community health needs. The program provides tools to state and local policymakers, as these stakeholders develop approaches that will best suit their communities. The program’s first issue brief outlined new requirements described in the ACA, and identified new challenges and opportunities for state and federal policymakers. A third brief, to be published this summer, will help state policymakers make use of information that nonprofit hospitals submit to the IRS to advance state health policy goals.
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