The American Hospital Association on Thursday asked the IRS to offer timely guidance to hospitals and health systems regarding new regulations that allow the donation of health IT to physicians, AHA News reports.
AHA in a November 2006 letter to the IRS said that a lack of guidance from the IRS is significantly deterring hospitals from donating and sharing health IT (AHA News, 2/1). IRS rules restrict tax-exempt entities from making donations that do not benefit the public or help further their charitable missions. It is unclear whether donations, such as electronic health records and electronic prescribing software, would be designated as a public or private benefit (iHealthBeat, 11/7/06).
Lawrence Hughes, AHA regulatory counsel, at the Thursday meeting said that "a prompt, clear IRS statement confirming" that hospitals providing health IT to physicians will not risk their exempt status "would give hospitals and health systems what they need to proceed with such beneficial arrangements" (AHA News, 2/1).