Hospitals, nursing homes, clinics and other health care facilities today are undergoing unprecedented scrutiny by government investigators, regulators and thrid-party payors. Non-profit facilities in particular have proven a fertile ground for these probes, as more and more questions are being raised about the personal involvement of trustees and directors in business dealings of their facilities, and whether certain individuals may be profiting from transactions involving the non-profit's assets and operations. Recently some highly publicized cases involving trustee conflicts have sent a strong warning about the dangers of self-dealing. In addition, Congress has expressed its own concern over these conflicts of interest by giving the Internal Revenue Service new powers to impose severe penalties on not-for-profit entities that abuse their tax-expemt status. This publication seeks to provide trustees and directors of not-for-profit health care facilities with a timely reminder about the ethics of trusteeship, and in particular, the importance of avoiding potential conflicts of interest.