JOURNAL OF GOVERNMENTAL & NONPROFIT ACCOUNTING American Accounting Association Vol. 10, No. 1 DOI: 10.2308/JOGNA-19-004 2021 pp. 50–85 The Association between Board Composition, Board Governance, and Charity Care Provided by Nonprofit Hospitals Linda G. Ragland Catherine A. Plante University of New Hampshire ABSTRACT: In this study, we examine the association between board composition, board governance, and charity care provided by nonprofit hospitals. Using tax return data, we first investigate whether the composition of nonprofit hospital boards is associated with governing decisions related to patients’ eligibility for charity care. Then, we examine whether these decisions are associated with the amount of charity care provided. These research questions are motivated by legislators’ and regulators’ interest in understanding how nonprofit hospitals behave in terms of charitable missions ( Kennedy, Burney, Troyer, and Stroup 2010). Overall, we find percentage of doctors on the board is associated with decisions affecting patients’ eligibility for free care. Related, we find that percentage of healthcare administrators on the board is associated with decisions affecting patients’ eligibility for free and discounted care. We also find that governing decisions related to patients’ eligibility for free and discounted care are associated with charity care provided. Data Availability: Data used in this study are available from the authors upon request. Keywords: nonprofit hospitals; board composition; board governance; social perfor- mance; charity care. We thank Dana Forgione, Kathryn Jervis, Daniel Neely, Melvin Lamboy Ruiz, Cathleen Miller, James Ragland, Christina Bailey, May Xiaoyan Bao, M.D. Safayat Hossain, workshop participants at the 2018 Midyear Meeting of the Governmental and Nonprofit Section of the American Accounting Association (AAA), and workshop participants at the 2017 AAA Annual Meeting for the very thoughtful comments and suggestions. We also thank the Peter T. Paul Financial Policy Center at the University of New Hampshire for financial support. Linda G. Ragland and Catherine A. Plante, University of New Hampshire, Peter T. Paul College of Business and Economics, Department of Accounting and Finance, Durham, NH, USA. Editor’s note: Accepted by Vaughan S. Radcliffe. Submitted: May 2019 Accepted: October 2020 Published Online: January 2021 50 Downloaded from http://meridian.allenpress.com/jogna/article-pdf/10/1/50/2958432/i2155-3815-10-1-50.pdf by guest on 17 November 2021