Georgia HEART Program is One Way to Contribute to Health of Rural Hospitals

As we begin a new year, you may be looking for new tax deductions in 2022.

The State of Georgia allows you to do something no other state in America does: Tell the government to use your state income tax dollars to support rural hospitals.

Through the Georgia HEART Hospital Program, Georgia taxpayers – individuals and businesses – can claim a 100 percent state income tax credit in exchange for their contribution to eligible rural hospitals.

Eligible hospitals in our area include St. Mary’s Sacred Heart Hospital in Lavonia.

Speaking on a St. Mary’s Healthcare podcast, Hospital spokeswoman Lauren Papka says the money you donate to Sacred Heart is used in a variety of ways to improve healthcare services.

“Sacred Heart has benefited from countless people that have been able to contribute to the program and help expand and enhance our service lines. Some of those services that we’ve been able to expand include telemedicine, surgery, and anesthesia coverage, as well as hospital medicine and critical care, which has been tremendously needed in the most recent years with the pandemic,” Papka explained. “But also we’re able to add new equipment and replace equipment that we might not otherwise have been able to. And all of these things allow the patients in our area and our community to stay in their community for care. They’re not having to drive farther away for specialty services. They’re able to get that closer to home, which is good for them, the patient, and their family. So, we’re very appreciative of this program and what it’s meant to our hospital locally, but also to the community that we serve.”

Sacred Heart Hospital has also used contributions to expand and enhance access to specialty services including cardiac care, 3D mammography, and orthopedic surgery, as well as use the funds for equipment repair and replacement.

Even before the COVID-19 pandemic struck, many rural hospitals in Georgia were struggling financially.

Speaking on that same recent podcast, Lisa Kelly, Director for the Georgia HEART Hospital Program, said the pandemic has made those financial struggles even worse, and now more than ever, rural hospitals appreciate and often depend upon resources the community contributes.

“Georgia HEART is a very creative solution to something that’s been a problem in Georgia for years. And that is, that Georgia lawmakers have been studying how to improve the financial sustainability of our rural hospitals, and what they did was unique,” she said. “We are the only state in the country that has a tax credit program to help rural hospitals. What happens is taxpayers may contribute to a qualified rural hospital organization, and in exchange for that, they receive a 100% Georgia income tax credit. Georgia HEART is the program that manages that tax credit and HEART stands for helping enhance access to rural treatment.”

Kelly said you can go online to get an application to become a donor to the Georgia HEART Hospital program.

“George HEART is here to absolutely facilitate, take all the burdens off of the taxpayer in taking advantage of this program. Simply go to the website, www.georgiaheart.org, and filling out that little application on our website is all you do other than writing the check to make the payment. Every other interaction with the Georgia Department of Revenue and with the hospitals is something that Georgia HEART takes on for you.”

From Jan. 1 to June 30, the state limits the amount individual taxpayers can contribute.

Those limits are: Individual Filer up to $5,000 for an individual filer, up to $10,000 for a married couple filing jointly.

After July 1, there are no limits until the state reaches $60 million worth of approved tax credit applications.  At that point, the program closes until Jan. 1 next year.

Businesses and corporations can also take advantage of the tax credit and are allowed a 100 percent Georgia income tax credit for contributions to rural hospital organizations – RHOs – for amounts as large as 75 percent of the corporation’s or trust’s annual state income tax liability, starting Jan. 1.

To learn more and submit your 2022 HEART Tax Credit application you can go online to www.georgiaheart.org.

You can also listen to the entire St. Mary’s Healthcare podcast on the Georgia HEART program by going to https://www.stmaryshealthcaresystem.org/podcasts/.