May 27, 2010

IRS Request for Comments Regarding Additional Requirements for Tax-Exempt Hospitals

The Internal Revenue Service released a request for comment on new requirements for tax-exempt hospital organizations. The new health insurance reform law requires hospitals to assess community health needs every three years; it also requires hospitals to establish a financial assistance policy. The maximum charges for emergency or medically necessary care will be limited, and tax-exempt hospital organizations will not be permitted to use extraordinary collection actions until they have taken reasonable efforts to determine an individual's eligibility for the hospital's financial assistance policy. Because the new law has applied the requirements to hospital organizations on a facility-by-facility basis, each facility within a hospital organization must meet the new requirements.