ACA Round-Up: Hospital Nonprofit Status, ACA Nondiscrimination Litigation, And More

American non-profit hospitals have long qualified for tax exempt status under federal law as “charitable” organizations. They are often afforded exempt status from state and local property, sales, and income tax under similar requirements. The Affordable Care Act imposed additional requirements that hospitals must meet if they wish to retain federal tax exempt status. These include: Establishing written financial assistance and emergency medical care policies, Limiting amounts charged for emergency or other medically necessary care to individuals eligible for assistance, Making reasonable efforts to determine whether an individual is eligible for assistance under the hospital’s policy before engaging in extraordinary collection action, and Conducting a Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA) at least once every three years, which must be widely publicized, and adopting an strategy to implement the CHNA. The IRS released final regulations implementing the 501(r) requirements in 2015. The regulatory requirements were effective for tax years following the end of 2015. The IRS has reportedly been conducting compliance reviews of tax exempt hospitals and has levied a $50,000 excise tax against some hospitals that have been out of compliance with 501(r) requirements. In August, however, the IRS released for the first time a notice dated February 14, 2017 actually revoking the 501(c)(3) status of a hospital that had failed to implement and publicize its CHNA. The hospital...
Source: Health Affairs Blog - Category: Health Management Authors: Tags: Following the ACA Hospitals Insurance and Coverage ACA section 1557 cost-sharing reduction payments nonprofit hospitals Source Type: blogs