The American Hospital Association has urged the Internal Revenue Service to improve its new Schedule H to better reflect the benefits non-profit hospitals provide to their communities.
The March 2010 issue of the AHA’s Trustee magazine cites a study by the Urban Institute that indicates that the Form 990 schedule will not fully recognize the community benefit of multi-hospital systems. It fails to do so because many health systems file multiple Schedule Hs that are seemingly unconnected and may not reflect the way they subsidize community benefits across the system.
Comparisons between hospitals and health systems also will be skewed because entities other than hospitals will be included in the information, the authors said.
In a letter to the IRS, Melanie Hatton, the AHA’s general counsel, cites the study’s conclusion that “The initial Schedule H filings will be disappointing to those hoping for a reliable tool to accurately capture and compare community benefits.”
Hatton said it is important that the flaws in Schedule H be addressed, because it must be “viewed by the public, policymakers and the hospital field as a reliable tool to capture community benefit.”