Mission, Margin, and Trust in the Nonprofit Health Care Enterprise

Lost in the recent flurry of legal activity occasioned by corporate integration, disintegration, and scandalous episodes of managerial abuse, the law governing charitable corporations remains neglected and thoroughly muddled. Still unsettled are central issues regarding the accountability of directors and management, legal standards governing organic changes by nonprofit institutions, and mechanisms to ensure fidelity to the organization's charitable mission. For nonprofit corporations in the health care sector, which represent a large proportion of all health services supplied nationwide, particularly charity care, these shortcomings have had serious repercussions.