Session: Community Benefit Today: Perspectives

3171.0: Monday, November 8, 2004: 12:30 PM-2:00 PM

Oral

Community Benefit Today: Perspectives

Over the recent past, the question of the justification for tax-exemption for nonprofit organizations has become controversial in some communities. In return for the good provided to community residents,that is, their attention to individual and population health, governments consider many hospitals, health systems, clinics, and other providers to be nonprofit institutions. Governments therefore exempt these organizations from paying local, state, and federal taxes. In this session, representatives of different stakeholders will each give their perspective on the issue of community benefit and accountability to community, as it is applied to health care institutions. Panel members include a researcher, a state government representative, the head of community benefit in a 13-hospital system, and the head of community affairs in a public health hospital system that includes a public health department. The session will comprise panelist statements followed by a moderated discussion and audience question-and-answer period.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, the participant in this session will: 1) Be familiar with both traditional and expanded definitions of "community benefit" 2) Understand some of the problematic questions involved in community benefit 3) Be familiar with some leading programs and practices 4) Be familiar with perspectives toward community benefit held by different stakeholders.

Organizer(s):

Frances S. Margolin, MA

12:30 PM

Community benefit today: Perspectives