Each year, Texas hospitals deliver billions of dollars in charity care – free or discounted care for patients who can’t afford it. Nonprofit hospitals have a legal duty to deliver charity care to demonstrate they are providing a benefit to the community they serve.
Texas boasts one of the most stringent charity care laws in the nation, setting strict minimums on what nonprofit hospitals must spend on charity care and community benefit.
Texas hospitals meet their obligations under state and federal law and go well beyond, providing hundreds of millions of dollars above what the state requires. In 2022, all 127 nonprofit hospitals subject to the state’s law on charity care and community benefit met the standards required by law.
This page contains information on Texas’ charity care law and the performance of Texas hospitals in serving their communities with free or discounted care.
The topic of hospital charity care will be revisited anew late in 2024; by Dec. 1, the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) will release a study on the topic. HHSC contracted with accounting firm Myers and Stauffer to perform the study. THA is assisting its members with informational requests from Myers and Stauffer as it collects information for the study.
Resources
- Nonprofit Charity Care and Community Benefit in Texas (THA white paper)
- Charity Care and Community Benefit in Texas: Frequently Asked Questions (September 2024)
- The Scope: Texas Hospitals Going Above and Beyond on Charity, Indigent Care (Originally published Nov. 2023; updated April 2024)
- Texas Article IX Hospital Charity Care and Transparency Report (Myers and Stauffer)
- Texas Tax Code: Charity Care and Community Benefits Requirements (Sec. 11.1801)
THA Worksheet S-10 Reference Guide for Texas Hospitals, First Edition
Medicare Cost Report Worksheet S-10 provides for the collection of uncompensated and indigent care data for hospitals that are required by federal law to report it. This THA guide was created to assist Worksheet S-10 preparers and users of data reported on the worksheet.