Burns et al., National Compliance With Community Input on Nonprofit Hospital Community Benefit Activities
Ashlyn Burns (Indiana University), Brian Kim (Ohio University), Cory Cronin (Ohio University), Harper He (Tulane University), and Tatiane Santos (Tulane University) have published National Compliance With Community Input on Nonprofit Hospital Community Benefit Activities, JAMA Network Open (2026). Here are the key points for the article:
Question Are nonprofit hospitals complying with the federal requirement to solicit and account for written comments from the community (ie, community input requirement) on their community benefit activities, and what approaches do compliant hospitals use to solicit community input?
Findings In this nationally representative cross-sectional study of 543 hospitals, 57 (10.5%) were compliant with the Internal Revenue Service requirement to solicit and account for written comments from the community. No significant differences in hospital characteristics were found between compliant and noncompliant hospitals.
Meaning Poor hospital compliance with the community input requirement raises questions about whether community benefit activities reflect community perspectives and priorities, indicating a need for improved transparency and accountability in community benefit policies.