Taking advantage of a new federal tax credit, BMC is the first hospital in the country to use solar panels to generate energy credits to help pay their patients’ utility bills. Here's how the program works.
This is an excerpt from WBUR's daily morning newsletter, WBUR Today. If you like what you read and want it in your inbox,Boston Medical Center just launched a unique new pilot program that prescribes its most vulnerable patients not a pill or medication — but a discount on their electric bill. WBUR’s Amy Sokolow reports BMC is the first hospital in the country to use solar panels on top of one of their buildings to generate energy credits to help pay their patients’ utility bills.
Who’s getting help? During the initial phase of the pilot program, BMC says the credits will go to 80 households in their Complex Care Management program, which focuses on patients who need more hospital care and are lower-income. Why is BMC getting into energy assistance? Dr. Anna Goldman, a BMC primary care doctor and co-founder of the new Clean Power Prescription program, said “utility insecurity” is one of the social determinants of health that the hospital screens for. Whether it’s having heat in the winter or air conditioning in the summer, Goldman called reliable electricity “a basic human need.”
What’s next: BMC has only just begun enrolling the first households, but Goldman said they plan to expand the program. The hospital is hoping to partner with outside organizations that can host their own solar arrays. Goldman says those organizations would also be eligible for big tax incentives if they donate at least half of the energy from their panels toward credits for BMC patients. “It’s kind of a win-win,” Goldman said.that will offer the IRS’s new free tax filing pilot program next year.
Not everyone in Massachusetts will be eligible for the initial rollout this coming year. While they’re still working to finalize the details, the IRS says the program will be “limited to taxpayers with certain types of income, credits and deductions – taxpayers with relatively simple returns.”that he plans to run for reelection next year. But the 76-year-old said it “remains to be seen” if he serves the full 2025-26 term.
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