The high court says a nonprofit hospital should be exempt from property taxes if the value of its charitable services is greater than or equal to its property tax, in today's bite-sized hospital and health industry news from the District of Columbia, Illinois, and Minnesota.
- Illinois: The Illinois Supreme Court on Thursday unanimously affirmed a lower court ruling that upheld a state law under which nonprofit hospitals in Illinois is exempt from property taxes if the value of its charitable services are greater than or equal to the amount it owes in property taxes. The seven justices disagreed with a lawsuit that claimed the law was unconstitutional and ruled that nonprofit hospitals should be exempt from property taxes (Commins, Health Leaders Media, 9/21).
- Minnesota: Medical device maker Medtronic announced Thursday that it will buy Israeli company Mazor Robotics for $1.6 billion. Medtronic is currently the chief distributor of Mazor's robotic surgical guidance systems, which help surgeons perform spinal implant procedures. The deal is expected to close this year (Reilly, Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal, 9/21).
- Washington, D.C.: A nursing phone line at Washington, D.C.'s 911 call center has had a "modest" impact on reducing non-emergency ambulance dispatches, according to Robert Holman, D.C. Fire and EMS medical director. The program, called Right Care, Right Now, uses RNs to triage phone calls at the 911 call center to determine whether a caller needs urgent medical attention or can be referred to non-emergency medical options (Williams, Washington Post, 9/23).
Your cheat sheets for understanding health care's legal landscape
To help you keep up with the ever-changing regulatory environment, we recently updated our cheat sheets on some of the most important—and complicated—legal landmarks to include a brand new one-pager on the new tax law.
Check out the cheat sheets now for everything you need to know about MACRA, the Affordable Care Act, antitrust laws, fraud and abuse prevention measures, HIPAA, and the two-midnight rule.