Hospital Charity Care:
State of the State's Charity Care Laws
Author(s)
Richard Scheffler, PhDRachael Kagan, MA
Erinmauriah Conway, JD
Abstract
The following study of state charity care legislation was undertaken partly in an effort to assist California policy makers, the Legislature and Attorney General with a directive to evaluate whether the state should enact charity care standards. One question, raised in the AG's memo to the Legislature on this issue regarded the progress that other states had made in tackling charity care. The report that follows seeks to answer that question. Across the country, 21 states have adopted charity care or community benefit laws that govern the behavior of hospitals toward indigent and low-income patients. We found 13 states with community benefit laws, six of which provide specific charity care guidelines as well. In addition, 10 states have created distinct charity care laws. Two states - Indiana and New Hampshire - have both a charity care and a community benefit law.
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