Enrolled Bill Summary

            Under previous law, nonprofit hospitals were required to file a community benefits plan with the Texas Department of Health within 120 days after the end of the hospital's fiscal year. Senate Bill 788 amends the Health and Safety Code to require that the report be filed by April 30 of each year, and a hospital is required to report additional information regarding its total operating expenses and ratio of cost to charge for the fiscal year. The department is required to submit a report to the comptroller and attorney general listing each nonprofit hospital that did not meet the required level of charity care and to make the report available to the public and issue a press release concerning the availability of the report. A Medicaid disproportionate share hospital and a public hospital owned by a political subdivision are brought within the reporting requirement unless the hospital is located in certain designated Health Professionals Shortage Areas.