Legislation defines charity care for IL hospitals

Not-for-profit hospitals in Illinois facing the specter of paying millions in property taxes were granted a reprieve Tuesday when the state Senate passed legislation that will allow hospitals to apply a much broader definition for what qualifies as charity care. The legislation sets a clear formula for how much free care and services hospitals must provide to qualify for tax breaks, ending nearly 10 years of wrangling on the issue. It requires that hospitals provide an equal or greater amount of free or discounted services to low-income patients each year than their annual estimated property tax liability to qualify for an exemption.