Hospital Appeals Property-Tax Ruling

Provena Covenant Medical Center, a nonprofit hospital in Urbana, Ill., that was stripped of its property-tax exemption in a dispute over how much charity care it provides, has appealed the decision, the Chicago Tribune
reports.

Lawyers for the hospital said last month’s ruling by Brian Hamer, director of the Illinois Department of Revenue, contained many errors.

The hospital lost its tax-exempt status because Mr. Hamer said the hospital’s 2002 charitable care amounted to $832,000 or 0.7 percent of its $113.5-million in revenue.

Provena argued that Mr. Hamer’s figure showed only free care and did not include other expenses, like the hospital’s coverage of patients’ bad debt, and costs not covered by the Medicaid health-insurance program for the poor, or other community programs it offers patients.

The hospital says it provided more than $13-million in care and services for which it was not compensated in 2002. The hospital first lost its tax exemption three years ago when the Champaign County Board of Review said it aggressively attempted to collect money from poor and uninsured patients.

The case is being watched closely by other nonprofit hospitals, officials at the American Hospital Association said, because such challenges are becoming more common and the Provena case is the furthest along in the legal process.

Mr. Hamer’s response to the hospital’s charges were not included in the article.