HealthLeaders - HealthLeaders

HealthLeaders - HealthLeaders: "HealthLeaders Magazine
December Cover Story: Do Nonprofit Hospitals Deserve Tax-Exempt Status?
By Philip Betbeze, for HealthLeaders News, December 10, 2004

When for-profit hospitals first appeared in numbers on the healthcare landscape, more than a few nonprofit advocates worried out loud that a for-profit mentality would ruin healthcare.
It was the 1970s, and the fear was that for-profits, by injecting a capitalistic model into the business of healthcare, would squeeze out the nonprofits. That didn't happen, as nonprofits still make up about 85 percent of the nation's hospitals. In fact, nonprofits have weathered a challenging operating environment by increasingly adopting the more aggressive business practices pioneered by for-profit hospitals. But in their efforts to turn a profit or at the very least to stem losses, nonprofit hospitals have raised the ire of more than a few legislators and patient advocate lawyers, as well as the IRS."