SZD Health Law Scan : Health Care Lawyers & Attorneys : Schottenstein Zox & Dunn Law Firm : Strategic Planning, Managed Care, Insurance : Columbus, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Central Ohio

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

The community benefit standard is the most common test applied by the IRS to determine whether a hospital, clinic, or other healthcare provider is operated to promote health in a manner that services a charitable purpose and, accordingly, merits tax-exempt status. The new form 990, introduced by the IRS in December 2007, has significant implications for the determination of community benefit as reported to the IRS. In response to these IRS changes, the Catholic Health Association (CHA) released the 2008 Edition of A Guide to Planning and Reporting Community Benefit, which discusses various forms of community benefit, including community health education. As part of its discussion on community health education, CHA’s Guide identifies health law topics for consumers, such as the American Health Lawyers Association’s (AHLA) Public Information Series (Series), as a recognizable form of community benefit.

AHLA has compiled a new Community Benefit Toolkit to explain how healthcare providers can share these publications within their local communities to promote community health education and advance community health improvement. Healthcare organizations can co-brand the Series’ publications to share with their local communities either electronically as a .pdf or reproduce the publications in hard copy at no cost. The distribution of these publications to consumers and healthcare professionals will provide healthcare organizations with additional community benefit to list on their IRS Form 990 Reports and thus may assist in meeting their community benefit obligations. As healthcare providers allocate scare resources to further their missions, the sharing of these publications is a cost-effective means of providing tangible value to local communities.