Non-profit hospitals are required to provide a “community benefit” to qualify for tax-exempt status with the Internal Revenue Service. To date, many hospitals have generally fulfilled this requirement by providing charity care to uninsured and underinsured individuals. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) includes provisions for expanded community benefit opportunities with the assumption that the law will decrease the need for charity care in the future.

NewPublicHealth spoke with Abbey Cofsky, program officer at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, about community benefit in 2011 and beyond, and about the Foundation’s interest in the opportunities around community benefit created through ACA.