"Georgia Consumer Privacy Protection Act"; enact

More rural hospitals qualify for tax-credit donations

Georgia expands which health care providers qualify to receive donations under its existing rural hospital tax-credit program. Eligible providers now include licensed acute care hospitals and rural freestanding emergency departments. Their primary campus must be in a rural county, or they must be a critical access hospital. They must participate in Medicare and Medicaid, accept patients from both programs, and care for patients who cannot afford care. They must be licensed to provide maternal and newborn services or meet a financial test. That test requires at least 5% of annual net revenue to count as indigent care, charity care, or bad debt. Providers must submit IRS Form 990 annually to the state health department, or its equivalent form when filing is not required. They must be operated by a county or municipal authority or have 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status. The law removes the three-year average patient-margin test and the requirement to be current with all legally required audits and reports. This change does not set a new tax-credit amount or provide new funding.