WASHINGTON, D.C. – Despite being tax-exempt, nonprofit hospitals across the country are making big money at the expense of their patients. The South Dakota Hospital Scorecard was created based on recent findings from the Lown Institute, PatientsRightsAdvocate.org, Innovation for Justice, and other publications about troubling practices at hospitals in South Dakota. These practices are at odds with what the public expects from charitable organizations, especially since South Dakota nonprofit hospitals collectively receive billions of dollars in tax breaks each year.

In response to these disturbing findings, Consumers for Quality Care (CQC) released the following statement:

Nonprofit hospitals in South Dakota are receiving tens of millions of dollars in tax breaks, despite charging patients huge markups for care and paying their executives multi-million-dollar salaries. On top of this, patient safety is declining in South Dakota hospitals, and nonprofit hospitals aren’t devoting enough resources to charity care for those in need. By all accounts, these nonprofit hospitals have their priorities backward. They should be focused on what’s best for their patients, not what’s best for their bottom lines.