By: WISCONSIN LAW JOURNAL STAFF//July 19, 2011//
By: WISCONSIN LAW JOURNAL STAFF//July 19, 2011//
Tax
Hospitals
An outpatient clinic used primarily as a hospital rather than a doctor’s office qualifies as tax-exempt property under sec. 70.11(4m)(a).
“Applying the factors relied upon by the St. Clare Hospital and the St. Elizabeth Hospital courts to the facts found by the circuit court in this case, we conclude that Covenant has met its burden of demonstrating that the Outpatient Clinic is not a doctor’s office. First, physicians practicing at the Outpatient Clinic do not receive variable compensation related to the extent of their services. Second, the Outpatient Clinic physicians do not receive extra compensation for overseeing non-physician staff. Third, the Outpatient Clinic’s bills are generated on the same software system as the bills generated by St. Joseph. Fourth, physicians at the Outpatient Clinic do not have their own offices. Instead, Outpatient Clinic Physicians have shared access to unassigned cubicles. Fifth, the physicians practicing at the Outpatient Clinic do not own or lease the building or equipment——all equipment is the exclusive property of St. Joseph.”
Reversed.
2009AP1469 & 2009AP1470 Covenant Healthcare System, Inc., v. City of Wauwatosa
Gableman, J.
Attorneys: For Plaintiff: Don M. Millis, Kristina E. Somers, Madison; For Defendant: Robert Horowitz, Madison; Alan R. Kesner, Beth Thorson, Wauwatosa.