PUTNAM COUNTY
There’s almost no way to avoid paying taxes. However, for Georgia taxpayers, there is a way to directly benefit the rural hospital of their choice in the process.
Georgia’s Helping Enhance Access to Rural Treatment (HEART) program was signed into law on Jan. 1, 2017, by then-Governor Nathan Deal. It came in response to a looming statewide crisis after several rural hospitals and other healthcare facilities closed due to financial constraints.
“Hospitals like ours are struggling to survive throughout the state, but they provide a vital need in their communities. People depend on their local hospitals,” Putnam General Hospital CEO Alan Horton stated. “HEART has been a lifeline for us as well as the other hospitals that participate.”
HEART allows individual-filing Georgians to voluntarily designate up to $5,000 of their expected obligation for the next tax season to any of 55 rural hospital organizations (RHOs), with married couples filing jointly able to double that amount. Additionally, C-corporations, trusts, or pass-through entities (electing to pay taxes at the entity level) may contribute up to 75 percent of their Georgia tax liability, while individual owners of an S corporation, limited-liability company, or partnership of a pass-through entity (not paying tax at the entity level) can designate up to a $10,000 contribution. As with any tax strategy, though, all contributors with questions should consult a professional tax advisor before committing to the HEART program.
“Participating in Georgia HEART helps our local community at no extra cost to you personally,” PGH Foundation Director Tracy Stickley pointed out. “Hospitals can use these funds to offset operating losses, address employee compensation and ongoing education, and update its facilities and equipment.”
To qualify for HEART, an RHO must be located in a Georgia county with 50,000 or fewer in the population (excluding military personnel), be of tax-exempt status, accept Medicare and Medicaid, and meet a minimum annual provision of indigent or uncompensated care. Plus, each RHO must submit to the state’s Department of Community Health (DCH), which determines the list of qualified RHOs, financial records and a five-year plan for any money that may be received through HEART.
Locally, Putnam General Hospital (PGH) in Eatonton, St. Mary’s Good Samaritan in Greensboro, Morgan Medical Center in Madison, and Atrium Health in Milledgeville are eligible HEART program recipients. Any taxpayer in the state, regardless of location, can designate any eligible RHO to receive their HEART contribution, though.
“The Department of Community Health ranks (all 55 RHOs) in terms of most needy to the least needy. I mean, they’re all needy, but some are needier than others, and if people that live in large cities like Atlanta want to participate but don’t know a hospital, they can just say, ‘Give it to the neediest’ and then it goes to those highest on the list,” Horton explained.
When HEART was initiated five years ago, PGH ranked near the top of the “most needy” list, Stickley said, “but Georgia HEART has really saved us the last couple of years.”
Regardless, Stickley added the need remains strong for continued support for PGH from local taxpayers through the HEART program.
“Our losses will continue to accrue. We’re always going to have losses as long as we’re taking care of people that don’t have insurance and cannot afford healthcare,” she said. “So, if we’re going to be able to help rural people that can’t afford healthcare, we’ve got to have a program that keeps the hospital afloat financially, and this would be it.”
For the past four years, Georgia taxpayers could access $60 million of RHO tax credits annually, with each RHO qualified to receive a maximum of $4 million in HEART disbursements. In May this year, however, Gov. Brian Kemp signed a bill increasing the annual HEART tax credit cap to $75 million beginning in 2023, though the $4 million limit for each qualified RHO remains.
Credits are awarded on a first-come, first-served basis, and in 2022, Georgia taxpayers reached $60 million in available HEART tax credits by July 1. Despite the $15-million cap increase for 2023’s tax season, the state expects all credits will be consumed even earlier next year.
HEART tax credits can be applied for through a simple, one-page form available online at Georgia Heart. org, where more detailed information also can be found about the HEART program.
Once submitted, the Georgia Department of Revenue automatically receives the application and within 30 days will inform both the taxpayer and HEART of approval (or denial) of the application and how much in tax credits are granted dependent on each taxpayer’s expected tax burden. Tax credits cannot be applied to past-due amounts and if credits paid somehow exceed a taxpayer’s state tax burden, the excess credits will be applied to the applicant’s next-year tax obligation; no refunds will be issued regarding the HEART program.
Upon approval, HEART will email instructions to taxpayers stipulating how to make payment within 180 days of the approval date.
After the HEART payment is received, the taxpayer will receive a tax credit receipt to apply on their 2023 Georgia income tax return. Again, further details are available online.
“The bottom line, the motivation for this, is you’re going to be paying this money one way or the other. You are either just going to give it to the State of Georgia and they will spend it on whatever they’re going to spend it on,” Stickley said. “Or you can say, ‘No, I want up to $5,000 of my money to go to this hospital that I may need, or I’ve used in the past.’ You can say you just want to make sure that it remains in your community.”