New York Nonprofit Hospitals Score A #HospitalFail
Nonprofit hospitals were organized to serve. Massive tax breaks mean New York nonprofit hospitals should provide charity care to the needy, serve as accessible health care providers for patients in need, and invest in their communities.
But New York nonprofit hospitals aren’t keeping their side of the deal. New York nonprofit hospitals receive billions of dollars in tax breaks for the promise of providing charity care and community benefits. And yet, the state’s hospitals have collectively racked up a “fair share deficit” of $1.6 billion dollars. In other words, nonprofit hospitals in New York pocketed a whopping $1.6 billion more in tax breaks than what they spent on community benefits and charity care.
Hospitals today are big businesses and the largest contributors to US health care costs. Too often, their interests are at odds with New Yorkers’ health and financial security.
CQC’s Nonprofit Hospital Scorecards call out disturbing trends among nonprofit hospitals as we urge lawmakers to put an end to predatory hospital practices and ensure that nonprofit hospitals truly act like nonprofits.
1 Lown Institute, “Lown Institute Hospitals Index: 2024 Results Fair Share Spending,” March 2024, https://lownhospitalsindex.org/hospital-fair-share-spending-2024/
2 Lown Institute, “Lown Institute Hospitals Index: 2024 Results Fair Share Spending,” Hospitals With Largest Fair Share Deficits, March 2024, https://lownhospitalsindex.org/hospital-fair-share-spending-2024/
3 Community Service Society, “Discharged Into Debt: New York’s Nonprofit Hospitals are Suing Patients,” March 2020, https://www.cssny.org/publications/entry/discharged-into-debt
4 The New York Times, “One Hospital System Sued 2,500 Patients After Pandemic Hit,” October 2021, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/05/nyregion/coronavirus-medical-debt-hospitals.html
5 National Public Radio, “Investigation: Many U.S. hospitals sue patients for debts or threaten their credit,” December 2022, https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2022/12/21/1144491711/investigation-many-u-s-hospitals-sue-patients-for-debts-or-threaten-their-credit
6 Innovation for Justice, University of Arizona and the University of Utah, “Medical Debt Policy Scorecard,” May 2022, https://www.medicaldebtpolicyscorecard.org/state/NY
7 Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker, “Access & Affordability: The Burden of Medical Debt in the United States,” February 2024, https://www.healthsystemtracker.org/brief/the-burden-of-medical-debt-in-the-united-states/
8 PatientRightsAdvocate.org, “Sixth Semi-Annual Hospital Price Transparency Compliance Report,” February 2024, http://www.patientrightsadvocate.org/semi-annual-report-feb2024, pg. 24
9 Rand Corporation, “Prices Paid to Hospitals by Private Health Plans: Findings from Round 4 of an Employer-Led Transparency Initiative,” July 2022, https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RRA1144-1.html
10 Axios, “How America’s Top Hospitals Send Patient Costs Soaring,” June 2021, http://www.axios.com/hospital-billing
11 Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade, State Rankings, November 2023, https://www.hospitalsafetygrade.org/your-hospitals-safety-grade/state-rankings
All data as of April 2024.
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