Category: Charity, Philanthropy, Nonprofits
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Fix the Virginia Department of Health
by James C. Sherlock Governor Youngkin and his new administration have an opportunity to fix crucial problems in the Department of Health that have been festering for decades. The issues: How can Virginia regulate effectively its state-created healthcare monopolies? In a directly related matter, how can we fix the failures, famously demonstrated during COVID, of…
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Youngkin Donated His Salary to Charity. Sore Losers Complain.
by Kerry Dougherty We all understand that Virginia Democrats are smarting. They honestly believed that Virginia was a blue state and they could nominate a sleazy Clinton-crony retread and still win the governor’s race. They lost and their criticism of Governor Glenn Youngkin borders on derangement. Would it kill them to be gracious? To put…
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The Richmond Times Dispatch, “Hate Groups” and Journalism
by James C. Sherlock The Hanover County School Board (HCSB) is seeking legal assistance in reviewing its transgender policy from the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), a conservative legal organization that provides its services pro bono. ADF’s key values that it goes to court to defend are religious freedom, free speech, marriage and family, parental rights,…
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The National Association of School Psychologists is Going to Get Its Members Fired
by James C. Sherlock I had dinner with George Will once years ago aboard ship. He is very smart, uncannily observant, understatedly amusing and a terrific dinner guest. He published yesterday in The Washington Post a column, “Witness how progressives in government forfeit the public’s trust.” The National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) has proven…
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COPN’s Regional Monopolies Helped Boost Virginia Hospitals’ Operating Margins to more than 3x National Median in 2020
by James C. Sherlock Virginians have been assured forever by the hospital lobby that the non-profit regional monopolies established and protected by COPN nearly everywhere but Richmond: are benign public servants with a charitable mission; certainly don’t drive up costs; that competition does not matter; that the State Medical Facilities Plan on which COPN is…
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VMI Alumnus Redirects Intended $900,000 Gift
by James A. Bacon Colleges and universities have long been prone to clashes between strong-willed presidents and prominent alumni. Over the years there have been numerous well-publicized episodes of donors retracting their benefactions after some run-in with the forces of political correctness. But as “wokeness” becomes the prevailing ideology on many college campuses, and as…
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This Tax Credit Saves the State $8.5 Million
by James A. Bacon The Virginia Education Improvement Scholarship Tax Credit Program, which provides state tax credits for charitable donations to approved foundations, saves the Commonwealth $1.78 for every $1.00 in lost tax revenue, concludes a study by Richmond-based Mangum Economics. In tax year 2019, reduced public school enrollment generated $19.5 million in state savings…
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Looks Like We’ll Be Hearing a Lot More from the “F— UVA” Lady
by James A. Bacon I get a lot of unsolicited emails in my inbox from liberal advocacy groups around Virginia. I don’t block them because I think it’s important to know what people have to say, even if I don’t usually agree with them. Imagine my surprise when an email arrived today, introducing the new…
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Virginians’ Money and Our Tax-Exempt “Public Charity” Healthcare Monopolies
by James C. Sherlock A generally accepted rule of thumb for the minimum profitability required for a hospital to maintain operations and fund its future is 3%. Virginia’s community hospitals as a group in 2019 had an operating margin of 10%. Most of them are filed with federal and state governments as not-for-profit public charities…
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Medicaid and Medicaid Rate Increases Boost Virginia Hospital Profitability
by James C. Sherlock Virginia in 2018 both expanded Medicaid and increased Medicaid reimbursement rates. Those changes orchestrated by Virginia hospitals took effect in 2019 and resulted in a major financial windfall to those same hospitals. I have compared the 2018 and 2019 Hospitals Operating and Total Margins spreadsheets published by the state through…
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Good Neighbors
by Kerry Dougherty In these hyper-partisan pandemic times it often seems we will never come together as a country. We are too far apart politically. We spend too much time insulting each other. We can’t agree on the simplest things. We’re sick of the pandemic, divided about restrictions and gloomy about the future. Even the…
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Virginia’s Physicians and Nurses Must Take – Yes, Take – More Influence Over Virginia Health Policy
by James C. Sherlock As I have studied and reported upon Virginia’s struggles in COVID response, many things have come into focus that need to be done better in healthcare. I have reported on a lot of them here and called for changes. One major, overarching flaw needs attention. Virginia’s physicians and nurses do…
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Probably a Coincidence – COPN, the Monopolization of Health Care and the Marginalization of the Poor
by James C. Sherlock I have been asked many times about how freer markets in healthcare can coexist with our need to treat the poor. I will try to briefly cover some of the complexities of the answer to that question. And I will show that of all of the government healthcare control systems, COPN…
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COPN Scores a Kill
by James C. Sherlock More than eleven months ago I wrote an essay titled, “The Legal Corruption of (Virginia’s Certificate of Public Need) COPN.” That system needs overhaul, not adjustment, and the people of Hampton Roads need help. The Governor needs to lead in both efforts. Today I offer the third in a series (first…
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DePaul Hospital’s Closing Presents a Unique Opportunity for Hampton Roads
by James C. Sherlock Not too long ago, before the decline of the malls and COVID, the healthcare community coined what they called the Nordstrom Rule. The meaning was that if you wished to optimize profits in your healthcare business, build it close to a Nordstrom. The theory was that Nordstrom had already done the…