At the top of the year, a series of laws went into effect. One being a tax credit for rural healthcare.
House Bill 1339 raised the rural hospital tax credit from $75 million to $100 million. This allows for more taxpayer money across the state of Georgia to be donated which provides additional cash infusion for rural hospitals.
Director of Policy and Research with the Georgia Public Policy Foundation, Chris Denson was closely involved with the bill. He says 49 hospitals are eligible to receive this tax credit.
Denson says the General Assembly intended for this to be a lifeline for many rural hospitals.
“Many of these hospitals, which have one- or two-days cash on hand in order to keep them financially viable as a provider of healthcare in their communities,” Denson explains.
According to Denson, many of these rural hospitals need because of their payer mix.
“Many rural hospitals struggle with a payer mix that is heavily uninsured or on Medicaid or on Medicare,” Denson says. “…really, it’s commercially insured patients that are the lifeblood of many hospitals because they reimburse above cost. “
Denson continues, “when you have an older, typically poorer population that many rural hospitals serve, the hospital tax credit programs has helped ensure that we didn’t have any more closures than what we had experienced in the 2010’s.”
This raise to the rural hospital tax credit relieves the burden to open a new hospital or new service line in rural Georgia to provide maternal and mental health care amongst other needs.
Denson explains, “In essence… a donor will either allocate money towards a specific hospital or they’ll donate money to the program generally, and then the state will distribute that money based on the need to the hospital. Based on this ranking they’ve accumulated to determine which hospitals are the most financially neediest.”
Denson says typically the state legislature will put a sunset provision or renewal on a tax credit.
This new law has also extended the time for the sunset provision for both hospitals and taxpayers.
The passing of House Bill 1339 has also increased the cap amount of tax credit a shareholder, member, or LLC can donate.
Prior to this law, the cap was $10,000. Now it’s $25,000. WRBL