ABSTRACT
Most organizations that are accorded not-for-profit status by the Internal Revenue Service enjoy this designation legitimately. There are, however, many true businesses that lurk in the not-for-profit category and as a rule these are the biggest organizations. Every hospital provides services to the public and charges for them. The origin of not-for-profit treatment of hospitals and similar facilities is intimately tied to the history of modern medicine. In the distant past, hospitals were primarily places where the sick and the injured stayed while they recuperated. From time to time, specialists in medical economics and public policy convene to confer among themselves on the subject of how to stop overinvestment in medical facilities. Since they do not stop to question the role of tax exemption however, the outcome is usually to reach for quick fixes. They have forgotten that the business world long ago figured out how to direct investment capital to its most productive uses.
