By: Rachel Roubein; Washington Post
Senate HELP Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) plans to hold a hearing probing the business practices of nonprofit hospitals in the coming months following the release of a report by his staff later today accusing the facilities of abusing their tax-exempt status.
The details: The report points to instances documented in several media outlets of nonprofit health systems allegedly denying treatment to patients with unpaid hospital bills and using aggressive debt collection tactics to recover such payments, such as by garnishing wages. The report alleges that those practices flout federal requirements stipulating that nonprofit hospitals are “organized and operated” for charitable purposes — a designation that comes with hefty tax benefits.
The view from hospitals: The American Hospital Association slammed the report as “totally off base” and is out with its own report today contending tax-exempt hospitals provide tens of billions of dollars in benefits to their communities. Three hospitals named in the report, Tennessee’s Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare, New Jersey’s Robert Wood Johnson Barnabas Health and Minnesota’s Allina Health, defended their financial assistance programs in statements emailed to The Health 202. The other hospitals mentioned didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Next steps: In an interview, Sanders said legislation is likely to follow, although the details of what such a bill would contain aren’t yet clear. He said he has yet to discuss his plans with the Senate health committee’s top Republican, Sen. Bill Cassidy (La.), who urged federal regulators to evaluate nonprofit hospitals’ compliance with their tax-exempt requirements over similar concerns earlier this year.
The HELP panel chairman met with Monica Bertagnolli, President Biden’s nominee to run the nation’s medical research agency, last Wednesday and still plans to hold a hearing this month on her nomination.
Sanders said he and Bertagnolli had a “nice discussion.” This comes after Sanders initially refused to hold a hearing on the nomination for months in a quest to push the administration to release a “comprehensive” plan to lower drug prices.
But last month, Sanders announced he’d hold a hearing in October, citing a new contract between the federal health department and Regeneron that appeared to appease some concerns, as well as a pledge from the White House to keep working on ways to lower the cost of medicine. The contract stated that coronavirus therapies the company creates would be sold at the same list price or lower than the price of the product in other major countries. The delay has frustrated some advocates who have decried the lack of a permanent director to lead the National Institutes of Health.
