Health System Real Estate Empires, UHC Threatens Doctors, AHA Charity Report

Hey all,

Happy Tuesday! I keep seeing stories that portray nonprofit hospitals as the backbone of their communities, but it’s often the biggest ones that are the least charitable in practice.Enjoy the rundown.

Jacob Brody (Co-Founder & CEO, ZorroRX)

(The Lever) Tax-Exempt Hospitals Building Real Estate Empires

An investigation by The Lever exposes how nonprofit hospital systems like the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) are using their tax-exempt status to acquire billions in property and exert political influence while giving back less to their communities than they receive in subsidies. Despite owning over $2 billion in tax-free land in one county alone, UPMC and similar institutions are under scrutiny for prioritizing expansion, executive perks, and political donations over patient care and public benefit. Clearly, buying jets and influencing elections is just what the doctor ordered for community health: Full Article

(BenefitsPro) UnitedHealth Demands Loan Repayment from Providers Post-Cyberattack

UnitedHealth is aggressively reclaiming $9 billion in no-interest loans it extended to medical providers following the 2024 Change Healthcare cyberattack by withholding reimbursements for care delivered—effectively clawing back funds from practices still struggling to stay open. Though the loans were initially framed as a lifeline to help providers survive a revenue freeze caused by the breach, UnitedHealth now insists that, with services restored, repayment is overdue—regardless of the financial strain on small, often under-resourced practices. After all, it’s not like a $500 billion company can possibly survive without wringing every last dime from the clinics it nearly bankrupted in the first place. Full Article

(AHA) Nonprofit Hospitals’ Community Benefit Reporting

A new report from the American Hospital Association outlines how nonprofit hospitals provide diverse, community-specific benefits—ranging from financial assistance and Medicaid shortfall coverage to research, education, and subsidized services—under IRS Form 990 Schedule H. While the report aims to showcase the value nonprofit hospitals bring to their communities, critics argue it also highlights serious flaws in nonprofit accounting practices, vague definitions of “cost” and “loss,” and a lack of rigorous oversight that allows hospitals to inflate their community benefit claims. For many large health systems, the only thing “nonprofit” about them is that they don’t pay taxes on their profits. Full Article