Community Benefit Spending By Tax-Exempt Hospitals Changed Little After ACA

Gary J Young; Stephen Flaherty; E David Zepeda; Simone Rauscher Singh; Geri Rosen Cramer

doi:10.1377/hlthaff.2017.1028

Community Benefit Spending By Tax-Exempt Hospitals Changed Little After ACA

Health Aff (Millwood). 2018 Jan;37(1):121-124. doi: 10.1377/hlthaff.2017.1028.

Authors

Gary J Young¹, Stephen Flaherty², E David Zepeda³, Simone Rauscher Singh⁴, Geri Rosen Cramer⁵

Affiliations

¹ Gary J. Young ( ga.young@neu.edu ) is director of the Center for Health Policy and Healthcare Research and a professor at the D'Amore-McKim School of Business and Bouve College of Health Sciences, Northeastern University, in Boston, Massachusetts.
² Stephen Flaherty is a PhD student in the Population Health Program and a research analyst at the Center for Health Policy and Healthcare Research, Northeastern University.
³ E. David Zepeda is an assistant professor at the D'Amore-McKim School of Business and a faculty associate at the Center for Health Policy and Healthcare Research, Northeastern University.
⁴ Simone Rauscher Singh is an assistant professor at the School of Public Health, University of Michigan, in Ann Arbor.
⁵ Geri Rosen Cramer is a PhD student in the Population Health Program and a research analyst at the Center for Health Policy and Healthcare Research, Northeastern University.

PMID: 29309224
DOI: 10.1377/hlthaff.2017.1028

Abstract

Provisions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) encouraged tax-exempt hospitals to invest broadly in community health benefits. Four years after the ACA's enactment, hospitals had increased their average spending for all community benefits by 0.5 percentage point, from 7.6 percent of their operating expenses in 2010 to 8.1 percent in 2014.

Keywords: Health Reform; Hospitals; Legal/Regulatory Issues.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Charities / economics*
Community-Institutional Relations*
Hospitals / statistics & numerical data*
Humans
Organizations, Nonprofit / economics*
Organizations, Nonprofit / statistics & numerical data*
Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
Tax Exemption / economics*
Uncompensated Care / economics
United States