Question

Explain the Hill-Burton Act. What are some of the conditions this act imposed on hospitals that accepted federal funds?

Answer 1

Hill-Burton act-

in 1946 Congress enacted the Hospital Survey and Construction Act, permit-
ting State-Federal cooperation in providing needed community health facilities.
This law, sponsored by Senators Lister Hill and Harold H. Burton, came to be
known as the Hill-Burton Act. It authorized matching Federal grants, ranging
from one-third to two-thirds of the total cost of construction and equipment, to
public and nonprofit private health facilities.
By February 1965, more than two billion dollars in Federal funds had been
allocated to assist in making health facilities available in 50 States, the District
of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. Facilities and pro-
grams which may he financed under the Hill-Burton Act include
* general hospitals
* mental hospitals
* tuberculosis and other chronic disease hospitals
* public health centers
* nursing homes
* diagnostic and treatment centers
* rehabilitation centers
* modernization or replacement of health facilities ( new provision,
effective July 1, 1965)
* experimental or demonstration projects designed to improve hos-
pital services, facilities and resources

*********

Medical facilities which have not received financial assistance under the Hill-Burton program may still be subject to Title VI requirements because of their

participation in other Federal assistance programs. For example, a hospital providing medical care for indigent patients which is under contract with a county welfare agency receiving Federal financial assistance may not discriminate; the hospital 1s held to the same standard of equal opportunity as any Hill-Burton facility.