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F I S C A L I M P A C T R E P O R T

SPONSOR Foley

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

01/31/08

HB 569

SHORT TITLE Rural Primary Health Clinic Service Hours

SB

ANALYST Geisler

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY08

FY09

$1,000.0

Recurring

General

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

Relates to: HB 260 and SB 341

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Department of Health (DOH)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

House Bill 569 would appropriate $1,000,000 from the General Fund to the Department of

Health (DOH) for expenditure in Fiscal Year 2009 for eligible programs under the Rural Primary

Health Care Act (RPHCA) to plan and implement extended service hours. HB 569 would define

"service hours" to mean the hours during which an eligible program is open to the public for

health care appointments or walk-in visits. Any unexpended balance remaining at the end of

fiscal year 2009 would revert to the General Fund.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

The funding is in HB 569 is not a part of DOH’s FY09 executive budget request. Base general

fund to support rural primary health care clinics in FY09 is $13.5 million.

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

New Mexico’s community-based primary care centers provide basic medical and dental care to

residents of underserved areas. This safety net of clinics has over 250 clinical providers

House Bill 569 – Page

2

providing healthcare homes for 300,000 New Mexicans at 149 Primary Care clinics (93 medical,

39 dental, and 17 school-based health clinics). The majority of patients at these centers is

uninsured or on public programs like Medicaid. Primary care centers are part of the health care

safety net assuring a health care home to New Mexicans who would not otherwise receive

services.

The support for primary care centers comes from multiple sources, including Federal community

health center grants, generated revenues and financial support under the State RPHCA program.

Demand for services at primary care centers exceeds available capacity. In recent years there has

been a rise in demand from uninsured New Mexicans. Although there has been an increase in

RPHCA and other support, the cost of uncompensated care has outstripped the additional

funding. The additional funding proposed in HB 569 would permit some expansion of primary

care center capacity to meet community need at RPHCA funded clinics.

RELATIONSHIP

HB 569 is related to HB 260, which would provide additional funds to DOH to increase

compensation for health care providers at RPHCA eligible primary care centers, and SB 341,

which would provide funds to DOH to support the implementation of electronic health records at

these same centers.

GG/mt