(Atlanta, Ga. and Boston, Ma.) Many non-profit hospitals are not doing enough to let needy patients know about whether they qualify for hospital charity care programs and how to apply for assistance, according to a report released today by The Access Project and Community Catalyst in collaboration with Georgia Watch. Read more
Archive for May, 2010
By Jonathan Shapiro
May 21, 2010
A Fulton County judge has dismissed a lawsuit against Atlanta Gas Light alleging it increased customer rates by up to $400 million without facing the regulatory scrutiny required by law.
The seniors’ advocacy group AARP sued on grounds that it was denied discovery rights during AGL’s request proceeding before the Public Service Commission. AGL argued – and the PSC ultimately agreed – that it had no legal obligation to provide discovery, since AGL was seeking approval of a surcharge, rather than a formal rate increase.
Georgia Watch and Common Cause, in support of AARP’s appeal, jointly filed an amicus brief arguing the request for the new surcharge was tantamount to a rate increase. Read more
By Angela Speir Phelps and Danny Orrock
There’s been a lot of chatter about the Supreme Court of Georgia’s decision to overturn caps on damages for victims of medical malpractice. It’s understandable this would generate interest, since it affects our most basic rights as citizens.
In 2005, Senate Bill 3 was heralded as a fix for many of the ills facing the health care industry. Read more
[This originally appeared in Healthy Debate Georgia, the blog of consumer advocacy group Georgians for a Healthy Future.]
by Holly Lang
In a March ruling that could hold implications for all nonprofit hospitals, the Illinois Supreme Court stripped not-for-profit Provena Covenant Medical Center of its exemption from property tax, stating that the hospital did not provide enough charity care to justify that exemption.
A hospital earns its tax-exempt status through the benefits it provides to the community, the most of which being the free or reduced-cost care for those eligible for such assistance. Such care is deemed indigent or charity care. Read more
