By Maxey H.B. No. 2390
75R5099 SKB-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the duty of certain hospitals to provide community
1-3 benefits and charity care.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Subchapter A, Chapter 311, Health and Safety
1-6 Code, is amended by adding Section 311.004 to read as follows:
1-7 Sec. 311.004. DISCLOSURE OF BILLING PROCEDURES. A hospital
1-8 shall submit to the department:
1-9 (1) information on procedures used to compute the
1-10 amount charged for a billed service from the actual cost of the
1-11 service; and
1-12 (2) information on procedures used to complete
1-13 Medicare cost reporting requirements.
1-14 SECTION 2. Section 311.045(b)(1), Health and Safety Code, is
1-15 amended to read as follows:
1-16 (1) A nonprofit hospital or hospital system shall
1-17 provide community benefits, including charity care and
1-18 government-sponsored indigent health care, in a combined amount
1-19 equal to at least 10 percent of the hospital or hospital system's
1-20 net patient revenue, provided that charity care and
1-21 government-sponsored indigent health care are provided in an amount
1-22 equal to at least six percent of net patient revenue [may elect to
1-23 provide community benefits, which include charity care and
1-24 government-sponsored indigent health care, according to any of the
2-1 following standards:]
2-2 [(A) charity care and government-sponsored
2-3 indigent health care are provided at a level which is reasonable in
2-4 relation to the community needs, as determined through the
2-5 community needs assessment, the available resources of the hospital
2-6 or hospital system, and the tax-exempt benefits received by the
2-7 hospital or hospital system;]
2-8 [(B) charity care and government-sponsored
2-9 indigent health care are provided in an amount equal to at least
2-10 four percent of the hospital's or hospital system's net patient
2-11 revenue;]
2-12 [(C) charity care and government-sponsored
2-13 indigent health care are provided in an amount equal to at least
2-14 100 percent of the hospital's or hospital system's tax-exempt
2-15 benefits, excluding federal income tax;]
2-16 [(D) prior to January 1, 1996, charity care and
2-17 community benefits are provided in a combined amount equal to at
2-18 least five percent of the hospital's or hospital system's net
2-19 patient revenue, provided that charity care and
2-20 government-sponsored indigent health care are provided in an amount
2-21 equal to at least three percent of net patient revenue; or]
2-22 [(E) beginning with the hospital's or hospital
2-23 system's fiscal year starting after December 31, 1995, charity care
2-24 and community benefits are provided in a combined amount equal to
2-25 at least five percent of the hospital's or hospital system's net
2-26 patient revenue, provided that charity care and
2-27 government-sponsored indigent health care are provided in an amount
3-1 equal to at least four percent of net patient revenue].
3-2 SECTION 3. Section 311.042(9), Health and Safety Code, is
3-3 amended by adding Paragraph (C) to read as follows:
3-4 (C) For purposes of this subchapter, a
3-5 "nonprofit hospital" includes a public hospital that is owned or
3-6 operated by a political subdivision or municipal corporation of the
3-7 state, including a hospital district or authority.
3-8 SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.
3-9 SECTION 5. The importance of this legislation and the
3-10 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-11 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-12 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-13 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.