Time for Ohio Hospitals to be Nice to Their Lobbyists and PR People
The state government of Ohio is the latest to begin exploring whether nonprofits should be taxed. Unlike efforts in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, and in Indiana, Ohio’s process is being driven by the executive branch, not the legislature, and it’s aimed at just one segment of the sector: hospitals.
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.
That the 2006 effort failed is sufficient reason to justify nonprofit expenditures on government relations and communications resources. Unless and until hospitals and other institutions — those whose high levels of revenue make them obvious targets for scrutiny — can make an effective public case that their missions benefit society more than themselves, regardless of the incomes they bring in, they will continue to be in the cross-hairs of government officials looking to boost coffers without raising individual taxes. Lobbying and PR are not hospitals’ missions — but they sure help those institutions to carry out their missions more effectively. | 501(c)
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POSTED IN: Accountability, Government, Mission
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