HOUSE CONSUMER AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR

HOUSE BILL 438

49th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2009

AN ACT

RELATING TO PUBLIC ASSISTANCE; REQUIRING COST-SHARING PAYMENTS FOR MEDICAID RECIPIENTS WHO CHOOSE EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES WHEN NON-EMERGENCY SERVICES ARE INDICATED.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:

     Section 1. A new section of the Public Assistance Act is enacted to read:

     "[NEW MATERIAL] MEDICAID RECIPIENTS--COST-SHARING PAYMENTS FOR EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES WHEN NON-EMERGENCY SERVICES ARE INDICATED.--

          A. Consistent with the federal act and subject to the appropriation and availability of federal and state funds, the department shall promulgate rules that require a recipient who chooses a high-cost medical service provided through a hospital emergency room to pay a co-payment, premium payment or other cost-sharing payment for the high-cost medical service if:

                (1) the hospital from which the recipient seeks service:

                     (a) performs an appropriate medical screening and determines that the recipient does not have a condition requiring emergency medical services;

                     (b) informs the recipient that the recipient does not have a condition requiring emergency medical services;

                     (c) informs the recipient that if the hospital provides the non-emergency service, the hospital may require the recipient to pay a co-payment, premium payment or other cost-sharing payment in advance of providing the service;

                     (d) informs the recipient of the name and address of a non-emergency medicaid provider that can provide the appropriate medical service without imposing a cost-sharing payment; and

                     (e) offers to provide the recipient with a referral to the non-emergency provider to facilitate scheduling of the service;

                (2) after receiving the information and assistance from the hospital described in Paragraph (1) of this subsection, the recipient chooses to obtain emergency medical services despite having access to medically acceptable, lower-cost non-emergency medical services; and

                (3) the recipient's household income is at least one hundred percent of the federal poverty level.

          B. The cost-sharing payment for a high-cost medical service made pursuant to this section shall be:

                (1) for a child whose household income is one hundred to one hundred fifty percent of the federal poverty level, six dollars ($6.00);

                 (2) for an adult whose household income is one hundred to one hundred fifty percent of the federal poverty level, twenty-five dollars ($25.00);

                (3) for a child whose household income is one hundred fifty percent of the federal poverty level or greater, twenty dollars ($20.00); and

                (4) for an adult whose household income is one hundred fifty percent of the federal poverty level or greater, fifty dollars ($50.00).

          C. The department shall not seek a federal waiver or other authorization to carry out the provisions of Subsection A of this section that would prevent a medicaid recipient who has a condition requiring emergency medical services from receiving care through a hospital emergency room or waive any provision under Section 1867 of the federal act.

          D. The department shall not reduce hospital payments to reflect the potential receipt of a co-payment or other payment from a recipient receiving medical services provided through a hospital emergency room.

          E. The secretary shall apply for a grant pursuant to Subsection 1903(y) of the federal Deficit Reduction Act to establish a program to provide for non-emergency services to serve as an alternative to emergency rooms as providers of health care. This program shall establish partnerships with local community hospitals and shall focus on providing alternatives to emergency services for primary care for rural and underserved areas where medicaid recipients do not have regular access to primary care. As used in this section, "primary care" means the first level of basic physical or behavioral health care for an individual's health needs, including diagnostic and treatment services."

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