The guiding principle in determining a community benefit is that the activity or program responds to and identified community health need and is not provided primarily for organizational benefit. Community benefit is a well-defined set of activities articulated by the Internal Revenue Service in its instructions to its Form 990 Schedule H.
What Counts
A program or activity that responds to a demonstrated health-related community need and seeks to achieve at least one community benefit objective:- Improve access to health services
- Enhance public health
- Advance knowledge through education or research
- Relieve or reduce a health burden of government or other tax-exempt organization
What Does NOT Count
- Benefits the organization more than the community
- Provided primarily for marketing purposes
- Provided by another entity or individual
- Restricted to employees or medical staff
- Represents a normal "cost of doing business" or the current standard of care
Resources
- Community Benefit Categories and Definitions - 2022
- Social Accountability and the Long-Term Care Continuum — Definitions of Community Benefit Services for Homes and Services for the Aging are at the end of this document.
- What Counts Resource, Catholic Health Association website.
- What Counts Q&A, Catholic Health Association website. Questions from the field about what counts as community benefit and link to the What Counts Email Hotline.
The following resources address reporting questions that have been raised around specific issues:
- Screening and Referrals for Health-Related Social Needs
- Prioritizing Community Benefit Donation Requests
- Housing and Community Benefit: What Counts
- Guidance for Determining Whether to Report a Program or Activity as Community Health Improvement or Community Building
- Guidelines for Reporting Environmental Improvement as Community Benefit and Community Building on IRS Form 990, Schedule H
- " Valuation and Financial Statement Presentation of Charity Care, Implicit Price Concessions and Bad Debts by Institutional Healthcare Providers:" Principles and Practices Board Statement 15 | HFMA