IRS report finds variations in charity care terms
An interim report by the Internal Revenue Service found that while nearly all not-for-profit hospitals provide community benefit, variations in terms and what’s considered uncompensated care clouds the ability to assess how much free care not-for-profits are providing. It estimated that many hospitals spend 3 percent or less of their total revenue on care for the poor. The IRS gathered its data from 500 facilities in a May 2006 questionnaire. After uncompensated care, the next largest community benefit expenditure categories were medical education and training, research and community programs. Related to the report, staff from the Senate Finance Committee issued a draft to prod discussion of potential reforms for not-for-profit hospitals. “The report highlights that 22 percent of the nonprofit hospitals spend less than 1 percent of total revenue on uncompensated care,” said Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) ranking member of the committee.
Start now on NPI transition, consultants say
Providers should not procrastinate in using national provider identifiers, consultants from the Workgroup for Electronic Data Interchange said last month in an NPI forum. The Medicare contingency plan, which required all providers to start using NPIs in good faith since May 23 of this year, is intended for working the kinks out, said Marty Jensen, co-chair of WEDI’s business sub-workgroup. “The world will not stand still for the next 10 months,” Jensen said. “Medicare will be moving forward and many other payers will be following Medicare’s lead.”
Hospitals urged to be candid in bond filings
The chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission wants Congress to make new rules for information disclosure related to proposed offerings for tax-free municipal bonds, interest from which is not taxed by the federal government. In a speech last month in a town hall meeting in California, Christopher Cox urged that municipal bond borrowers, including hospitals, be required to file registration statements with the SEC, meeting similar requirements to those imposed on investor-owned companies. Municipal bond volume has evolved in the last 70 years and grown enormously, he said, and its size and scope requires more oversight, he said. Cox also called for adherence to rules of the Governmental Accounting Standards Board for all municipal bond issues.