October 24, 2007 | Read Time: 1 minute
Sen. Charles Grassley isn’t convinced that nonprofit hospitals are doing enough to earn their tax breaks.
And he’s asking for public input as he attempts to decide whether to introduce legislation that would make nonprofit hospitals provide more charity care to retain their tax-exempt status.
Mr. Grassley, the Iowa Republican who is the ranking minority member of the Senate Finance Committee, said today that he is playing host to a round-table discussion that would focus on potential reforms of nonprofit hospitals.
The discussion — set for Tuesday, October 30 in Washington — follows the release earlier this year by Mr. Grassley’s staff of a list of potential reforms. Included in that list of reforms is a proposal that would require nonprofit hospitals to spend at least 5 percent of their annual revenues or expenses on charity care.
“It’s important to understand what they’re doing to help those in need to justify such beneficial treatment under the tax laws,” Mr. Grassley said. “I haven’t made any decisions about whether legislation is necessary to address the issues we’ve seen regarding nonprofit hospitals, but this is an important discussion to help me decide whether to pursue legislation.”
Hospital groups, such as the American Hospital Association in Washington, say reforms are not necessary and have pointed to proposed changes to the Form 990 informational tax return as sufficient to provide a more clear picture of the community benefits provided by nonprofit hospitals.
