The Fair Care for Maryland Bill (HB#1169 and SB#774) will ensure that tax-exempt hospitals in Maryland do their fair share for the health of our communities.
Transparency
Hospitals are not reporting the value of their tax exemptions, so we don’t know how their charitable work compares to the tax exemptions they receive. Also, hospitals not clearly report how their spending directly supports initiatives designed to improve health outcomes.
The Fair Care for Maryland Bill requires hospitals to clearly report their community benefit expenditures, tax exempt disclosures, and other financial measures.
Accountability
Maryland law does not specify any minimum level of community benefit spending that a hospital must provide to qualify for its tax-exempt status.
The Fair Care for Maryland Bill creates a working group that will set minimum community benefits spending for each hospital, based on community health needs and hospitals’ finances.
Community Engagement
Too many hospitals are not adequately working with communities to determine what our health needs are and how to address them.
The Fair Care for Maryland Bill requires meaningful public engagement in identifying community health needs.