Community benefits and Schedule H: Making the information useable

“Community benefits” are health-related investments and activities, other than fully reimbursed medical care, that a hospital provides to its community. Community benefit obligations can arise in several legal contexts (e.g. condition of licensure, conversions or health planning processes) but are most commonly associated with tax-exempt hospitals. Section 9007 of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) established new requirements and reporting standards nonprofit hospitals must satisfy for federal tax exemption. These provisions clarify and promote transparency of tax-exempt hospitals' efforts to meet federal community benefit responsibilities in four areas: community health needs assessment, financial assistance policies, limitations on hospital charges, and billing and debt collection requirements. This presentation will discuss an effort that is underway to develop a nationwide, user-driven, web-based tool that will make the complex information contained in Schedule H accessible to multiple audiences ranging from community organizations to hospitals, community health care programs, public health agencies, researchers, and policymakers at all levels. By translating the information contained in Schedule H into a user-friendly format and combining the information with other important data on the characteristics of hospitals and the communities they serve, this tool is intended to enable users to gain a greater understanding of how hospitals invest in financial assistance, community building and community health improvement at the community, regional, state, and national levels.