The Hilltop Institute’s Hospital Community Benefit Program has just released its first issue brief, entitled Hospital Community Benefits after the ACA: The Emerging Federal Framework. The brief provides historical background on federal hospital community benefit policy; outlines the new requirements described in the Affordable Care Act (ACA); and identifies new challenges and opportunities for state and federal decision makers as they begin to develop responses to the new federal requirements. The brief is the first in a series, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, to be published over three years.
The second issue brief in the series, slated to be published this spring, will focus on state innovations in hospital community benefit policy and practice. It will identify and analyze innovative and successful state policies and practice associated with community health needs assessment, financial assistance policies, and community benefit reporting requirements.
Hilltop’s Hospital Community Benefit Program is the central resource created specifically for state and local policymakers who seek to assure that tax-exempt hospital community benefit activities are more responsive to pressing community health needs. The program provides tools to state and local health departments, hospital regulators, legislators, revenue collection and budgeting agencies, and hospitals, as these stakeholders develop approaches that will best suit their communities and work toward a more accessible, coordinated, and effective community health system. Donna Folkemer, MA, MCP, joined Hilltop in September 2010 to direct the program, which is funded for three years through the generous sponsorship of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (www.rwjf.org) and the Kresge Foundation (www.kresge.org).
To learn more about the program, contact Donna Folkemer. |
