The AAMC hosted a Dec. 3 congressional briefing on Capitol Hill, “Beyond the Bottom Line: Understanding Teaching Health Systems and Hospitals’ Contributions to the Health of Our Nation’s Communities.” The briefing, which attracted over 70 attendees, highlighted the unique contributions of nonprofit academic health systems to patients and communities and the unique and critical services provided by nonprofit teaching hospitals. During the event, speakers underscored the importance of nonprofit hospitals’ tax-exempt status, detailing how changes to hospital eligibility for tax exemption could create unintended consequences throughout the health care system.
(Pictured from left to right) Danielle Turnipseed, JD, MHSA, MPP; Jill Horwitz, PhD; Donald Brady, MD; and Atul Grover, MD, PhD, participate in a Dec. 3 congressional briefing on hospital community benefit and tax-exempt status in Washington, D.C.)
The panel, which was moderated by AAMC Chief Public Policy Officer Danielle Turnipseed, JD, MHSA, MPP, featured several experts on hospital community benefit and tax-exempt status, including Atul Grover, MD, PhD, AAMC Research and Action Institute executive director; Jill Horwitz, PhD, JD, MPP, David Sanders Professor in Law and Medicine at the UCLA School of Law; and Donald Brady, MD, executive vice president for Educational Affairs and Medical Staff Affairs at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Grover and Horwitz discussed the benefits of nonprofit health systems beyond the charity care they provide, highlighting the differences in medical service provision between different hospital types. Grover shared recent findings from the Research and Action Institute demonstrating that nonprofit teaching hospitals are more likely to offer “unprofitable” service lines like labor and delivery, psychiatric care, and transplant services. Brady illustrated how these differences play out at Vanderbilt, providing examples of the many benefits and services they offer beyond just charity care.