HOUSE BILL 108

54th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2019

INTRODUCED BY

William “Bill” R. Rehm

AN ACT

RELATING TO HEALTH CARE; REQUIRING CERTAIN CLASS A COUNTIES TO REPORT ON COUNTY FUNDING PROVIDED TO CERTAIN COUNTY HOSPITALS.

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

     SECTION 1. [NEW MATERIAL] REPORTING--CERTAIN CLASS A COUNTIES--CERTAIN COUNTY HOSPITALS.--

          A. A class A county with a county hospital operated and maintained pursuant to a lease or operating agreement with a state educational institution named in Article 12, Section 11 of the constitution of New Mexico shall file an annual report with the legislative finance committee by October 1, 2019 and by each October 1 thereafter on any funding it provides to the county hospital as well as a copy of any agreement or ordinance pursuant to which the county provides the funding.

          B. By October 1, 2019 and by each October 1 thereafter, a county hospital operated and maintained in a class A county pursuant to a lease or operating agreement with a state educational institution named in Article 12, Section 11 of the constitution of New Mexico shall file an annual report with that class A county and, on a form approved by the committee, with the legislative finance committee on any funding it receives from that county, including proceeds it receives from the mill levy imposed pursuant to the Hospital Funding Act, funding from health care assistance funds and funding from any other source. The county hospital shall also detail in its report, on a hospital-wide basis as well as by department, all expenditures and the actual settled cost of each expenditure of county funding that the county hospital makes for maintenance, operation and improvement of the county hospital; for financial assistance; for its bad debt or uncollected receivables; and for any other purpose.

          C. For reporting on financial assistance, the county hospital shall specify the following information:

                (1) each type of financial assistance that the county hospital offers, including the eligibility criteria for each type of financial assistance and information on whether the assistance includes free or discounted care;

                (2) any conditions precedent or other restrictions that the county hospital imposes on the provision of any items or services to recipients of financial assistance;

                (3) the basis for the amount charged to patients and to any third-party payers on behalf of those patients, including the actual settled cost of items or services provided;

                (4) the method that the county hospital employs for advertising the availability of financial assistance;

                (5) the procedures pursuant to which the county hospital requires patients or third parties to apply for financial assistance;

                (6) what actions the county hospital will take in the event of nonpayment;

                (7) a list of health care providers delivering care in the county hospital that are covered by the county hospital's financial assistance policy;

                (8) the conditions that the county hospital imposes for reimbursement of health care providers;

                (9) the revenue source used for each type of financial assistance provided;

                (10) the county hospital's emergency medical care policy to comply with the federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act and regulations issued pursuant to that act; and

                (11) any other information that the legislative finance committee or the county requests.

          D. As used in this section, "financial assistance" means any assistance the county hospital provides to a patient to cover the full or partial cost of items or services the patient receives from the hospital when the hospital has deemed the patient or a patient's third-party payer to be unable or unavailable to meet the full settled cost to the hospital of items or services that the hospital provides to the patient.

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