IRS reports to Congress on hospitals' community benefit

Tax-exempt hospitals’ community benefit activities represented 9.67% of their total expenses for Tax Year 2011, the Internal Revenue Service said in a report recently submitted to Congress. The results are consistent with an Ernst and Young report prepared for AHA for the same period, which shows the significant community benefits that tax-exempt hospitals provide their communities. The Affordable Care Act requires the IRS and Department of Health and Human Services to submit an annual report including the cost of community benefit activities provided by nongovernmental tax-exempt hospitals.