2019S0262-1 02/22/19
 
  By: Burrows H.B. No. 4648
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to the creation and operations of a health care provider
  participation program by the Lubbock County Hospital District.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Subtitle D, Title 4, Health and Safety Code, is
  amended by adding Chapter 298C to read as follows:
  CHAPTER 298C. LUBBOCK COUNTY HOSPITAL DISTRICT HEALTH CARE
  PROVIDER PARTICIPATION PROGRAM
  SUBCHAPTER A.  GENERAL PROVISIONS
         Sec. 298C.001.  PURPOSE. The purpose of this chapter is to
  authorize the district to administer a health care provider
  participation program to provide additional compensation to
  nonpublic hospitals by collecting mandatory payments from each
  nonpublic hospital in the district to be used to provide the
  nonfederal share of a Medicaid supplemental payment program and for
  other purposes as authorized under this chapter.
         Sec. 298C.002.  DEFINITIONS. In this chapter:
               (1)  "Board" means the board of hospital managers of
  the district.
               (2)  "Commissioners court" means the Commissioners
  Court of Lubbock County.
               (3)  "County" means Lubbock County.
               (4)  "District" means the Lubbock County Hospital
  District of Lubbock County, Texas.
               (5)  "Institutional health care provider" means a
  nonpublic hospital located in the district that provides inpatient
  hospital services.
               (6)  "Paying hospital" means an institutional health
  care provider required to make a mandatory payment under this
  chapter.
               (7)  "Program" means the health care provider
  participation program authorized by this chapter.
         Sec. 298C.003.  APPLICABILITY. This chapter applies only to
  the Lubbock County Hospital District of Lubbock County, Texas.
         Sec. 298C.004.  HEALTH CARE PROVIDER PARTICIPATION PROGRAM;
  PARTICIPATION IN PROGRAM. The board may authorize the district to
  participate in a health care provider participation program on the
  affirmative vote of a majority of the board, subject to the
  provisions of this chapter.
  SUBCHAPTER B. POWERS AND DUTIES
         Sec. 298C.051.  LIMITATION ON AUTHORITY TO REQUIRE MANDATORY
  PAYMENT. The board may authorize the collection of a mandatory
  payment authorized under this chapter from an institutional health
  care provider located in the district only in the manner provided by
  this chapter.
         Sec. 298C.052.  INSTITUTIONAL HEALTH CARE PROVIDER
  REPORTING. If the board authorizes the district to participate in a
  program under this chapter, the board shall require each
  institutional health care provider to submit to the district a copy
  of any financial and utilization data required by and reported to
  the Department of State Health Services under Sections 311.032 and
  311.033 and any rules adopted by the executive commissioner of the
  Health and Human Services Commission to implement those sections.
         Sec. 298C.053.  PROGRAM ADMINISTRATION. (a) The board,
  subject to the approval of the commissioners court, shall delegate
  all administrative responsibilities of the program, including
  collection of mandatory payments, expenditures, and audits, to the
  county.
         (b)  The commissioners court may adopt rules relating to the
  administration of the program.
  SUBCHAPTER C. GENERAL FINANCIAL PROVISIONS
         Sec. 298C.101.  HEARING. (a) In each year that the board
  authorizes a program under this chapter, the board shall hold a
  public hearing on the amounts of any mandatory payments that the
  board intends to require during the year and how the revenue derived
  from those payments is to be spent.
         (b)  Not later than the fifth day before the date of the
  hearing required under Subsection (a), the board shall publish
  notice of the hearing in a newspaper of general circulation in the
  district and provide written notice of the hearing to the chief
  operating officer of each institutional health care provider in the
  district. 
         (c)  Determination of the amount of any mandatory payments to
  be collected during the year shall be shown to be based on
  reasonable estimates of the amount of revenue necessary to meet and
  cover the nonfederal share of payments described by Section
  298C.103(b)(1) that is otherwise unfunded, and is subject to the
  final approval of the commissioners court.
         Sec. 298C.102.  LOCAL PROVIDER PARTICIPATION FUND;
  DEPOSITORY. (a) If the board authorizes the collection of a
  mandatory payment authorized under this chapter, and the
  commissioners court approves such collection, the commissioners
  court shall by resolution create a local provider participation
  fund in one or more banks located in the district that are
  designated by the commissioners court to serve as the depository
  for mandatory payments received by the county.
         (b)  All income received by the county under this chapter,
  including the revenue from mandatory payments remaining after
  discounts and fees for assessing and collecting the payments are
  deducted, shall be deposited with the county depository in the
  county's local provider participation fund and may be withdrawn
  only as provided by this chapter. 
         (c)  All funds collected under this chapter shall be secured
  in the manner provided by law for securing county funds.
         Sec. 298C.103.  DEPOSITS TO FUND; AUTHORIZED USES OF MONEY.
  (a) The local provider participation fund established under
  Section 298C.102 consists of:
               (1)  all mandatory payments authorized under this
  chapter and received by the county; 
               (2)  money received from the Health and Human Services
  Commission as a refund of an intergovernmental transfer from the
  local provider participation fund to the state as the nonfederal
  share of Medicaid supplemental payment program payments, provided
  that the intergovernmental transfer does not receive a federal
  matching payment; and
               (3)  the earnings of the fund.
         (b)  Money deposited to the local provider participation
  fund may be used only to:
               (1)  fund intergovernmental transfers from the county
  to the state to provide the nonfederal share of:
                     (A)  uncompensated care payments for nonpublic
  hospitals and delivery system reform incentive payments for
  nonpublic hospitals, if those payments are authorized under the
  Texas Healthcare Transformation and Quality Improvement Program
  waiver issued under Section 1115 of the federal Social Security Act
  (42 U.S.C. Section 1315); 
                     (B)  uniform rate enhancements for nonpublic
  hospitals in the Medicaid managed care service area in which the
  district is located;
                     (C)  payments available to nonpublic hospitals
  under another waiver program authorizing payments that are
  substantially similar to Medicaid payments to nonpublic hospitals
  described by Paragraph (A) or (B); or
                     (D)  any reimbursement to nonpublic hospitals for
  which federal matching funds are available;
               (2)  subject to Section 298C.151(d), pay the
  administrative expenses of the county in administering the program,
  including collateralization of deposits;
               (3)  refund a portion of a mandatory payment collected
  in error from a paying hospital; and
               (4)  refund to paying hospitals a proportionate share
  of the money that the county:
                     (A)  receives from the Health and Human Services
  Commission that is not used to fund the nonfederal share of payments
  described by Subdivision (1); or
                     (B)  determines cannot be used to fund the
  nonfederal share of payments described by Subdivision (1).
         (c)  Money in the local provider participation fund may not
  be commingled with other county funds.
         (d)  An intergovernmental transfer of funds described by
  Subsection (b)(1) and any funds received by the county as a result
  of an intergovernmental transfer described by that subsection may
  not be used by the county or any other entity to expand Medicaid
  eligibility under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
  (Pub. L. No. 111-148) as amended by the Health Care and Education
  Reconciliation Act of 2010 (Pub. L. No. 111-152).
  SUBCHAPTER D. MANDATORY PAYMENTS
         Sec. 298C.151.  MANDATORY PAYMENTS. (a) If the board
  authorizes a program under this chapter, the board, subject to the
  approval of the commissioners court, may require an annual
  mandatory payment to be assessed on the net patient revenue of each
  institutional health care provider located in the district. The
  commissioners court may provide that the mandatory payment is to be
  collected at least annually, but not more often than quarterly. In
  the first year in which the mandatory payment is required, the
  mandatory payment is assessed on the net patient revenue of an
  institutional health care provider as determined by the data
  reported to the Department of State Health Services under Sections
  311.032 and 311.033 in the most recent fiscal year for which that
  data was reported. If the institutional health care provider did
  not report any data under those sections, the provider's net
  patient revenue is the amount of that revenue as contained in the
  provider's Medicare cost report submitted for the previous fiscal
  year or for the closest subsequent fiscal year for which the
  provider submitted the Medicare cost report.
         (b)  The amount of a mandatory payment authorized under this
  chapter must be a uniform percentage of the amount of net patient
  revenue generated by each paying hospital in the district. A
  mandatory payment authorized under this chapter may not hold
  harmless any institutional health care provider, as required under
  42 U.S.C. Section 1396b(w).
         (c)  The aggregate amount of the mandatory payments required
  of all paying hospitals in the district may not exceed six percent
  of the aggregate net patient revenue of all paying hospitals in the
  district.
         (d)  Subject to the maximum amount prescribed by Subsection
  (c), the board, with the approval of the commissioners court, shall
  set the mandatory payments in amounts that in the aggregate will
  generate sufficient revenue to cover the administrative expenses of
  the county for activities under this chapter, fund an
  intergovernmental transfer described by Section 298C.103(b)(1), or
  make other payments authorized under this chapter. The mandatory
  payment amounts must be set based on reasonable estimates of the
  amount of revenue necessary to fully meet and cover authorized
  expenses under this chapter. The amount of revenue from mandatory
  payments that may be used for administrative expenses by the county
  in a year may not exceed $25,000, plus the cost of collateralization
  of deposits. If the county demonstrates to the paying hospitals
  that the costs of administering the program under this chapter,
  excluding those costs associated with the collateralization of
  deposits, exceed $25,000 in any year, on consent of a majority of
  all of the paying hospitals, the county may use additional revenue
  from mandatory payments received under this chapter to compensate
  the county for its administrative expenses. A paying hospital may
  not unreasonably withhold consent to compensate the county for
  administrative expenses.
         (e)  A paying hospital may not add a mandatory payment
  required under this section as a surcharge to a patient or insurer.
         (f)  A mandatory payment under this chapter is not a tax for
  purposes of Section 4, Article IX, Texas Constitution, or Chapter
  1053, Special District Local Laws Code.
         Sec. 298C.152.  ASSESSMENT AND COLLECTION OF MANDATORY
  PAYMENTS. The county may collect or contract for the assessment and
  collection of mandatory payments authorized under this chapter.
         Sec. 298C.153.  CORRECTION OF INVALID PROVISION OR
  PROCEDURE. To the extent any provision or procedure under this
  chapter causes a mandatory payment authorized under this chapter to
  be ineligible for federal matching funds, the board may provide by
  rule for an alternative provision or procedure that conforms to the
  requirements of the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid
  Services. A rule adopted under this section may not create, impose,
  or materially expand the legal or financial liability or
  responsibility of the district or an institutional health care
  provider in the district beyond the provisions of this chapter.
  This section does not require the board to adopt a rule.
         SECTION 2.  If before implementing any provision of this Act
  a state agency determines that a waiver or authorization from a
  federal agency is necessary for implementation of that provision,
  the agency affected by the provision shall request the waiver or
  authorization and may delay implementing that provision until the
  waiver or authorization is granted.
         SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
  a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
  provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
  Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
  Act takes effect September 1, 2019.