77R12549 JMG-D                           
         By Coleman                                            H.B. No. 2419
         Substitute the following for H.B. No. 2419:
         By Coleman                                        C.S.H.B. No. 2419
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to charity care requirements for certain hospitals.
 1-3           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-4           SECTION 1.  Section 311.045, Health and Safety Code, is
 1-5     amended by adding Subsection (f) to read as follows:
 1-6           (f)  A nonprofit hospital or hospital system under contract
 1-7     with a local county to provide indigent health care services under
 1-8     Chapter 61 may credit unreimbursed costs from direct care provided
 1-9     to  an eligible county resident toward meeting the nonprofit
1-10     hospital's or system's charity care and government-sponsored
1-11     indigent health care requirement.
1-12           SECTION 2.  Section 311.046(d), Health and Safety Code, is
1-13     amended to read as follows:
1-14           (d)  Each hospital shall provide, to each person who seeks
1-15     any health care service at the hospital, notice, in appropriate
1-16     languages, if possible, about the charity care program, including
1-17     the charity care and eligibility policies of the program, and how
1-18     to apply for charity care.  Such notice shall also be conspicuously
1-19     posted in the general waiting area, in the waiting area for
1-20     emergency services, in the business office, and in such other
1-21     locations as the hospital deems likely to give notice of the
1-22     charity care program and policies.  Each hospital shall annually
1-23     publish notice of the hospital's charity care program and policies
1-24     in a local newspaper of general circulation in the county.  Each
 2-1     notice under this subsection must be written in language readily
 2-2     understandable to the average reader.
 2-3           SECTION 3.  Subchapter D, Chapter 311, Health and Safety
 2-4     Code, is amended by adding Section 311.0461 to read as follows:
 2-5           Sec. 311.0461.  INFORMATIONAL MANUAL.  The department shall
 2-6     annually publish a manual that lists each nonprofit hospital in
 2-7     this state  with a brief summary of the charity care policies and
 2-8     community benefits that the nonprofit hospital provides.
 2-9           SECTION 4.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2001.