The American Hospital Association, in partnership with the Catholic Health Association, the Association of American Medical Colleges and VHA, sent a letter to the Internal Revenue Service expressing concerns about specific requirements tax-exempt hospitals may need to follow when conducting community health needs assessments.
The PPACA requires tax-exempt hospitals to conduct such assessments, but doesn't issue strict guidelines for how those hospitals should proceed. National public health organizations have weighed in on the matter and presented the IRS with suggestions to ensure hospitals are following through with assessments.
Suggested requirements insist hospitals consult with specific public health experts, along with the local health department, state health department and, when possible, tribal health offices. The group of hospital organizations writing to the IRS takes issue with the rigidity and specificity of the suggestions for how they should go about assessing community health needs.
"Every hospital is best positioned to know how to define the community it serves," writes the AHA and other in the letter to the IRS. "This is based not only on the hospital’s patient population but also on the particular services that it provides, as well as whether the hospital is a general acute care hospital or a specialty hospital."
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The PPACA requires tax-exempt hospitals to conduct such assessments, but doesn't issue strict guidelines for how those hospitals should proceed. National public health organizations have weighed in on the matter and presented the IRS with suggestions to ensure hospitals are following through with assessments.
Suggested requirements insist hospitals consult with specific public health experts, along with the local health department, state health department and, when possible, tribal health offices. The group of hospital organizations writing to the IRS takes issue with the rigidity and specificity of the suggestions for how they should go about assessing community health needs.
"Every hospital is best positioned to know how to define the community it serves," writes the AHA and other in the letter to the IRS. "This is based not only on the hospital’s patient population but also on the particular services that it provides, as well as whether the hospital is a general acute care hospital or a specialty hospital."
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