35 ILCS 200/15-86

(35 ILCS 200/15-86)

Sec. 15-86. Exemptions related to access to hospital and health care services by low-income and underserved individuals.

(a) The General Assembly finds:

(1) Despite the Supreme Court's decision in Provena Covenant Medical Center v. Dept. of Revenue, 236 Ill.2d 368, there is considerable uncertainty surrounding the test for charitable property tax exemption, especially regarding the application of a quantitative or monetary threshold. In Provena, the Department stated that the primary basis for its decision was the hospital's inadequate amount of charitable activity, but the Department has not articulated what constitutes an adequate amount of charitable activity. After Provena, the Department denied property tax exemption applications of 3 more hospitals, and, on the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 97th General Assembly, at least 20 other hospitals are awaiting rulings on applications for property tax exemption.

(2) In Provena, two Illinois Supreme Court justices opined that "setting a monetary or quantum standard is a complex decision which should be left to our legislature, should it so choose". The Appellate Court in Provena stated: "The language we use in the State of Illinois to determine whether real property is used for a charitable purpose has its genesis in our 1870 Constitution. It is obvious that such language may be difficult to apply to the modern face of our nation's health care delivery systems". The court noted the many significant changes in the health care system since that time, but concluded that taking these changes into account is a matter of public policy, and "it is the legislature's job, not ours, to make public policy".

(3) It is essential to ensure that tax exemption law relating to hospitals accounts for the complexities of the modern health care delivery system. Health care is moving beyond the walls of the hospital. In addition to treating individual patients, hospitals are assuming responsibility for improving the health status of communities and populations. Low-income and underserved communities benefit disproportionately by these activities.

(4) The Supreme Court has explained that: "the fundamental ground upon which all exemptions in favor of charitable institutions are based is the benefit conferred upon the public by them, and a consequent relief, to some extent, of the burden upon the state to care for and advance the interests of its citizens". Hospitals relieve the burden of government in many ways, but most significantly through their participation in and substantial financial subsidization of the Illinois Medicaid program, which could not operate without the participation and partnership of Illinois hospitals.

(5) Working with the Illinois hospital community and other interested parties, the General Assembly has developed a comprehensive combination of related legislation that addresses hospital property tax exemption, significantly increases access to free health care for indigent persons, and strengthens the Medical Assistance program. It is the intent of the General Assembly to establish a new category of ownership for charitable property tax exemption to be applied to not-for-profit hospitals and hospital affiliates in lieu of the existing ownership category of "institutions of public charity". It is also the intent of the General Assembly to establish quantifiable standards for the issuance of charitable exemptions for such property. It is not the intent of the General Assembly to declare any property exempt ipso facto, but rather to establish criteria to be applied to the facts on a case-by-case basis.

(b) For the purpose of this Section and Section 15-10, the following terms shall have the meanings set forth below:

(1) "Hospital" means any institution, place, building, buildings on a campus, or other health care facility located in Illinois that is licensed under the Hospital Licensing Act and has a hospital owner.

(2) "Hospital owner" means a not-for-profit corporation that is the titleholder of a hospital, or the owner of the beneficial interest in an Illinois land trust that is the titleholder of a hospital.

(3) "Hospital affiliate" means any corporation, partnership, limited partnership, joint venture, limited liability company, association or other organization, other than a hospital owner, that directly or indirectly controls, is controlled by, or is under common control with one or more hospital owners and that supports, is supported by, or acts in furtherance of the exempt health care purposes of at least one of those hospital owners' hospitals.

(4) "Hospital system" means a hospital and one or more other hospitals or hospital affiliates related by common control or ownership.

(5) "Control" relating to hospital owners, hospital affiliates, or hospital systems means possession, direct or indirect, of the power to direct or cause the direction of the management and policies of the entity, whether through ownership of assets, membership interest, other voting or governance rights, by contract or otherwise.

(6) "Hospital applicant" means a hospital owner or hospital affiliate that files an application for a property tax exemption pursuant to Section 15-5 and this Section.

(7) "Relevant hospital entity" means (A) the hospital owner, in the case of a hospital applicant that is a hospital owner, and (B) at the election of a hospital applicant that is a hospital affiliate, either (i) the hospital affiliate or (ii) the hospital system to which the hospital applicant belongs, including any hospitals or hospital affiliates that are related by common control or ownership.

(8) "Subject property" means property for which a hospital applicant files an application for an exemption pursuant to Section 15-5 and this Section.

(9) "Hospital year" means the fiscal year of the relevant hospital entity, or the fiscal year of one of the hospital owners in the hospital system if the relevant hospital entity is a hospital system with members with different fiscal years, that ends in the year for which the exemption is sought.

(c) A hospital applicant satisfies the conditions for an exemption under this Section with respect to the subject property, and shall be issued a charitable exemption for that property, if the value of services or activities listed in subsection (e) for the hospital year equals or exceeds the relevant hospital entity's estimated property tax liability, as determined under subsection (g), for the year for which exemption is sought. For purposes of making the calculations required by this subsection (c), if the relevant hospital entity is a hospital owner that owns more than one hospital, the value of the services or activities listed in subsection (e) shall be calculated on the basis of only those services and activities relating to the hospital that includes the subject property, and the relevant hospital entity's estimated property tax liability shall be calculated only with respect to the properties comprising that hospital. In the case of a multi-state hospital system or hospital affiliate, the value of the services or activities listed in subsection (e) shall be calculated on the basis of only those services and activities that occur in Illinois and the relevant hospital entity's estimated property tax liability shall be calculated only with respect to its property located in Illinois.

Notwithstanding any other provisions of this Act, any parcel or portion thereof, that is owned by a for-profit entity whether part of the hospital system or not, or that is leased, licensed or operated by a for-profit entity regardless of whether healthcare services are provided on that parcel shall not qualify for exemption. If a parcel has both exempt and non-exempt uses, an exemption may be granted for the qualifying portion of that parcel. In the case of parking lots and common areas serving both exempt and non-exempt uses those parcels or portions thereof may qualify for an exemption in proportion to the amount of qualifying use.

(d) The hospital applicant shall include information in its exemption application establishing that it satisfies the requirements of subsection (c). For purposes of making the calculations required by subsection (c), the hospital applicant may for each year elect to use either (1) the value of the services or activities listed in subsection (e) for the hospital year or (2) the average value of those services or activities for the 3 fiscal years ending with the hospital year. If the relevant hospital entity has been in operation for less than 3 completed fiscal years, then the latter calculation, if elected, shall be performed on a pro rata basis.

(e) Services that address the health care needs of low-income or underserved individuals or relieve the burden of government with regard to health care services. The following services and activities shall be considered for purposes of making the calculations required by subsection (c):

(1) Charity care. Free or discounted services provided pursuant to the relevant hospital entity's financial assistance policy, measured at cost, including discounts provided under the Hospital Uninsured Patient Discount Act.

(2) Health services to low-income and underserved individuals. Other unreimbursed costs of the relevant hospital entity for providing without charge, paying for, or subsidizing goods, activities, or services for the purpose of addressing the health of low-income or underserved individuals. Those activities or services may include, but are not limited to: financial or in-kind support to affiliated or unaffiliated hospitals, hospital affiliates, community clinics, or programs that treat low-income or underserved individuals; paying for or subsidizing health care professionals who care for low-income or underserved individuals; providing or subsidizing outreach or educational services to low-income or underserved individuals for disease management and prevention; free or subsidized goods, supplies, or services needed by low-income or underserved individuals because of their medical condition; and prenatal or childbirth outreach to low-income or underserved persons.

(3) Subsidy of State or local governments. Direct or indirect financial or in-kind subsidies of State or local governments by the relevant hospital entity that pay for or subsidize activities or programs related to health care for low-income or underserved individuals.

(4) Support for State health care programs for low-income individuals. At the election of the hospital applicant for each applicable year, either (A) 10% of payments to the relevant hospital entity and any hospital affiliate designated by the relevant hospital entity (provided that such hospital affiliate's operations provide financial or operational support for or receive financial or operational support from the relevant hospital entity) under Medicaid or other means-tested programs, including, but not limited to, General Assistance, the Covering ALL KIDS Health Insurance Act, and the State Children's Health Insurance Program or (B) the amount of subsidy provided by the relevant hospital entity and any hospital affiliate designated by the relevant hospital entity (provided that such hospital affiliate's operations provide financial or operational support for or receive financial or operational support from the relevant hospital entity) to State or local government in treating Medicaid recipients and recipients of means-tested programs, including but not limited to General Assistance, the Covering ALL KIDS Health Insurance Act, and the State Children's Health Insurance Program. The amount of subsidy for purposes of this item (4) is calculated in the same manner as unreimbursed costs are calculated for Medicaid and other means-tested government programs in the Schedule H of IRS Form 990 in effect on the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 97th General Assembly; provided, however, that in any event unreimbursed costs shall be net of fee-for-services payments, payments pursuant to an assessment, quarterly payments, and all other payments included on the schedule H of the IRS form 990.

(5) Dual-eligible subsidy. The amount of subsidy provided to government by treating dual-eligible Medicare/Medicaid patients. The amount of subsidy for purposes of this item (5) is calculated by multiplying the relevant hospital entity's unreimbursed costs for Medicare, calculated in the same manner as determined in the Schedule H of IRS Form 990 in effect on the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 97th General Assembly, by the relevant hospital entity's ratio of dual-eligible patients to total Medicare patients.

(6) Relief of the burden of government related to health care of low-income individuals. Except to the extent otherwise taken into account in this subsection, the portion of unreimbursed costs of the relevant hospital entity attributable to providing, paying for, or subsidizing goods, activities, or services that relieve the burden of government related to health care for low-income individuals. Such activities or services shall include, but are not limited to, providing emergency, trauma, burn, neonatal, psychiatric, rehabilitation, or other special services; providing medical education; and conducting medical research or training of health care professionals. The portion of those unreimbursed costs attributable to benefiting low-income individuals shall be determined using the ratio calculated by adding the relevant hospital entity's costs attributable to charity care, Medicaid, other means-tested government programs, Medicare patients with disabilities under age 65, and dual-eligible Medicare/Medicaid patients and dividing that total by the relevant hospital entity's total costs. Such costs for the numerator and denominator shall be determined by multiplying gross charges by the cost to charge ratio taken from the hospitals' most recently filed Medicare cost report (CMS 2252-10 Worksheet C, Part I). In the case of emergency services, the ratio shall be calculated using costs (gross charges multiplied by the cost to charge ratio taken from the hospitals' most recently filed Medicare cost report (CMS 2252-10 Worksheet C, Part I)) of patients treated in the relevant hospital entity's emergency department.

(7) Any other activity by the relevant hospital entity that the Department determines relieves the burden of government or addresses the health of low-income or underserved individuals.

(f) For purposes of making the calculations required by subsections (c) and (e):

(1) particular services or activities eligible for consideration under any of the paragraphs (1) through (7) of subsection (e) may not be counted under more than one of those paragraphs; and

(2) the amount of unreimbursed costs and the amount of subsidy shall not be reduced by restricted or unrestricted payments received by the relevant hospital entity as contributions deductible under Section 170(a) of the Internal Revenue Code.

(g) Estimation of Exempt Property Tax Liability. The estimated property tax liability used for the determination in subsection (c) shall be calculated as follows:

(1) "Estimated property tax liability" means the estimated dollar amount of property tax that would be owed, with respect to the exempt portion of each of the relevant hospital entity's properties that are already fully or partially exempt, or for which an exemption in whole or in part is currently being sought, and then aggregated as applicable, as if the exempt portion of those properties were subject to tax, calculated with respect to each such property by multiplying:

(A) the lesser of (i) the actual assessed value, if any, of the portion of the property for which an exemption is sought or (ii) an estimated assessed value of the exempt portion of such property as determined in item (2) of this subsection (g), by:

(B) the applicable State equalization rate (yielding the equalized assessed value), by

(C) the applicable tax rate.

(2) The estimated assessed value of the exempt portion of the property equals the sum of (i) the estimated fair market value of buildings on the property, as determined in accordance with subparagraphs (A) and (B) of this item (2), multiplied by the applicable assessment factor, and (ii) the estimated assessed value of the land portion of the property, as determined in accordance with subparagraph (C).

(A) The "estimated fair market value of buildings on the property" means the replacement value of any exempt portion of buildings on the property, minus depreciation, determined utilizing the cost replacement method whereby the exempt square footage of all such buildings is multiplied by the replacement cost per square foot for Class A Average building found in the most recent edition of the Marshall & Swift Valuation Services Manual, adjusted by any appropriate current cost and local multipliers.

(B) Depreciation, for purposes of calculating the estimated fair market value of buildings on the property, is applied by utilizing a weighted mean life for the buildings based on original construction and assuming a 40-year life for hospital buildings and the applicable life for other types of buildings as specified in the American Hospital Association publication "Estimated Useful Lives of Depreciable Hospital Assets". In the case of hospital buildings, the remaining life is divided by 40 and this ratio is multiplied by the replacement cost of the buildings to obtain an estimated fair market value of buildings. If a hospital building is older than 35 years, a remaining life of 5 years for residual value is assumed; and if a building is less than 8 years old, a remaining life of 32 years is assumed.

(C) The estimated assessed value of the land portion of the property shall be determined by multiplying (i) the per square foot average of the assessed values of three parcels of land (not including farm land, and excluding the assessed value of the improvements thereon) reasonably comparable to the property, by (ii) the number of square feet comprising the exempt portion of the property's land square footage.

(3) The assessment factor, State equalization rate, and tax rate (including any special factors such as Enterprise Zones) used in calculating the estimated property tax liability shall be for the most recent year that is publicly available from the applicable chief county assessment officer or officers at least 90 days before the end of the hospital year.

(4) The method utilized to calculate estimated property tax liability for purposes of this Section 15-86 shall not be utilized for the actual valuation, assessment, or taxation of property pursuant to the Property Tax Code.

(h) Application. Each hospital applicant applying for a property tax exemption pursuant to Section 15-5 and this Section shall use an application form provided by the Department. The application form shall specify the records required in support of the application and those records shall be submitted to the Department with the application form. Each application or affidavit shall contain a verification by the Chief Executive Officer of the hospital applicant under oath or affirmation stating that each statement in the application or affidavit and each document submitted with the application or affidavit are true and correct. The records submitted with the application pursuant to this Section shall include an exhibit prepared by the relevant hospital entity showing (A) the value of the relevant hospital entity's services and activities, if any, under paragraphs (1) through (7) of subsection (e) of this Section stated separately for each paragraph, and (B) the value relating to the relevant hospital entity's estimated property tax liability under subsections (g)(1)(A), (B), and (C), subsections (g)(2)(A), (B), and (C), and subsection (g)(3) of this Section stated separately for each item. Such exhibit will be made available to the public by the chief county assessment officer. Nothing in this Section shall be construed as limiting the Attorney General's authority under the Illinois False Claims Act.

(i) Nothing in this Section shall be construed to limit the ability of otherwise eligible hospitals, hospital owners, hospital affiliates, or hospital systems to obtain or maintain property tax exemptions pursuant to a provision of the Property Tax Code other than this Section.

(Source: P.A. 99-143, eff. 7-27-15.)