Events Calendar
In This Section
American soldier killed in Iraq
Researcher says she found text on Shroud of Turin
Ohio native takes second place on 'Project Runway'
White House at odds with bishops over abortion
End of an era: Oprah ending show after 25 years
Kin want right to sue after man assumed dead
Sen. Kerry's daughter arrested in LA on DUI
Raw Video: Cop Crashes Into Car Killing 2 Teens
Hundreds of rotting deer in yard cause big stink (with video)
Most Read Stories
Police accuse bank robbery suspect of gobbling up note (with dashcam video)
Victim of beating in Kent last week is declared dead at Akron hospital
Dad accused of forcing son into field, killing him
Man found dead in North Akron home is identified
Can DNA tests free ex-Akron captain?
Browns' roster nearly devoid of consistent players
Coventry man killed in crash at I-77 ramp
Does it work? Test team returns to try out new products advertised on television
Review: You've never seen 'Sound of Music' like this
College student mistaken for deer, shot to death
NFL star Chris Spielman's wife loses cancer battle
Blogs:
Pets:
Cat-loving chihuahua suckles seven abandoned kittens
The Heldenfiles:
Friday Night Notebook
Patrick McManamon:
Browns vs. Lions live …
Akron Zips:
Akron trounces Howard to reach .500
Tribe Matters:
Seven players added to Tribe’s 40-man roster
Cleveland Browns:
Robiskie, Harrison inactive
Kent State Sports:
Kent State blown out in second half, loses to Temple 47-13
Cleveland Cavaliers:
Gameblog: Cavs vs. Philadelphia 76ers
Buckeye Blogging:
OSU – Michigan college football rivals meet in Baghdad
Varsity Letters:
Four area football teams play tonight
All Da King's Men:
The Sunday Sanity Challenge
Blog of Mass Destruction:
Will Health Care Reform Pass?
Akron Law Café:
Health Care Financing Reform: (69) The Brookings Institute Study on "Bending the Curve" – Four General Strategies
See Jane Style:
Vintage Chic
Car Chase:
TIME TO GET YOUR COLLECTOR CARS WINTERIZED
Let's Talk Real Estate:
Silverdome Potentially SOLD!
Ohio Travels with Betty:
George is looking for a Thanksgiving buffet in Akron.
Sound Check:
Steely Dan Plays "The Royal Scam" at E.J. Thomas Hall
HRLite House:
A Random Rant on Testing
Akron Gamer:
Nintendo's Mario endures even as games come and go
By Associated Press
POSTED: 04:44 p.m. EST, Jan 22, 2008
COLUMBUS: For the second time since 2006, Ohio's top law enforcer is seeking information on 174 Ohio hospitals that get tax breaks linked to their status as nonprofit, charitable organizations.
Attorney General Marc Dann, a Democrat elected in January, wants the institutions to justify their tax-exempt status and has launched an effort to collect detailed data on their operations, including how much they pay their executives, how they collect unpaid medical bills, how much charity care they provide, and what financial information they share with the public.
A similar effort by Dann's predecessor, Republican Jim Petro, was largely abandoned in 2006 amid criticism from leaders of hospitals and other nonprofit groups. The attorney general's office enforces laws governing nonprofit organizations.
Petro's initiative sought to have nonprofit hospitals register with the state, outline measures to prevent fraud, file mission statements, outline policies for collecting unpaid bills and prove they were charging indigent patients fair rates.
Dann discussed his ideas last week with the Ohio Hospital Association, which represents the nonprofit hospitals as well as six for-profit medical centers. He acknowledged the latest probe could stir controversy.
''Anytime you start to hold people accountable who have not had that for decades, if not centuries, people are going to start to be nervous,'' Dann said in an interview with The Columbus Dispatch published Monday. ''I think you get more bees with honey than with vinegar. I think we're going to be as collaborative as we can.''
Tiffany Himmelrich, a spokeswoman for the Hospital Association, said the hospitals provide many community benefits beyond treating patients who are unable to pay.
''The hospital association is really going to work hard with the attorney general's staff to explain what community benefits the hospitals provide,'' she said. ''It's not just charity care.''
Charity care accounted for $816 million of the $2.2 billion that nonprofit hospitals provided in unreimbursed services in 2005, according to the association's 2007 annual report. The rest went to losses on Medicaid and Medicare patients and debts the hospitals wrote off.
The Internal Revenue Service will require more detailed financial accounting from nonprofit hospitals beginning with the 2009 tax year, which may address some of the same questions Dann is asking.
Cathy Levine, executive director of Universal Health Care Action Network of Ohio, a patient-advocacy group, said involving the hospitals at the outset may help Dann succeed where Petro failed.
She suggested Dann scrutinize hospital billing practices to ensure that uninsured and underinsured patients aren't driven to financial ruin by medical bills.
COLUMBUS: For the second time since 2006, Ohio's top law enforcer is seeking information on 174 Ohio hospitals that get tax breaks linked to their status as nonprofit, charitable organizations.
Attorney General Marc Dann, a Democrat elected in January, wants the institutions to justify their tax-exempt status and has launched an effort to collect detailed data on their operations, including how much they pay their executives, how they collect unpaid medical bills, how much charity care they provide, and what financial information they share with the public.
A similar effort by Dann's predecessor, Republican Jim Petro, was largely abandoned in 2006 amid criticism from leaders of hospitals and other nonprofit groups. The attorney general's office enforces laws governing nonprofit organizations.
Petro's initiative sought to have nonprofit hospitals register with the state, outline measures to prevent fraud, file mission statements, outline policies for collecting unpaid bills and prove they were charging indigent patients fair rates.
Dann discussed his ideas last week with the Ohio Hospital Association, which represents the nonprofit hospitals as well as six for-profit medical centers. He acknowledged the latest probe could stir controversy.
''Anytime you start to hold people accountable who have not had that for decades, if not centuries, people are going to start to be nervous,'' Dann said in an interview with The Columbus Dispatch published Monday. ''I think you get more bees with honey than with vinegar. I think we're going to be as collaborative as we can.''
Tiffany Himmelrich, a spokeswoman for the Hospital Association, said the hospitals provide many community benefits beyond treating patients who are unable to pay.
''The hospital association is really going to work hard with the attorney general's staff to explain what community benefits the hospitals provide,'' she said. ''It's not just charity care.''
Charity care accounted for $816 million of the $2.2 billion that nonprofit hospitals provided in unreimbursed services in 2005, according to the association's 2007 annual report. The rest went to losses on Medicaid and Medicare patients and debts the hospitals wrote off.
The Internal Revenue Service will require more detailed financial accounting from nonprofit hospitals beginning with the 2009 tax year, which may address some of the same questions Dann is asking.
Cathy Levine, executive director of Universal Health Care Action Network of Ohio, a patient-advocacy group, said involving the hospitals at the outset may help Dann succeed where Petro failed.
She suggested Dann scrutinize hospital billing practices to ensure that uninsured and underinsured patients aren't driven to financial ruin by medical bills.
