THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA

SENATE BILL

INTRODUCED BY D. WHITE, STOUT, SCARNATI, M. WHITE, WONDERLING, ROBBINS, WARD, WAUGH, ALLOWAY, KASUNIC AND WOZNIAK, JUNE 26, 2009

REFERRED TO PUBLIC HEALTH AND WELFARE, JUNE 26, 2009  

AN ACT

Providing for funding to certain hospitals in sixth, seventh and

eighth class counties; and imposing powers and duties on the

Department of Public Welfare.

The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

hereby enacts as follows:

Section 1.  Short title.

This act shall be known and may be cited as the Rural

Community Hospital Act.

Section 2.  Definitions.

The following words and phrases when used in this act shall

have the meanings given to them in this section unless the

context clearly indicates otherwise:

"Department."  The Department of Public Welfare of the

Commonwealth.

"Hospital."  An entity located in this Commonwealth that is

licensed as a hospital under the act of July 19, 1979 (P.L.130,

No.48), known as the Health Care Facilities Act.

"Qualified hospital."  A hospital that satisfies the

requirements of section 3.

Section 3.  Qualification of hospital.

To be eligible to receive funds as a qualified hospital under

this act, a hospital must:

(1)  Be located in a county of the sixth, seventh or

eighth class that has greater than 15% of its population

eligible for medical assistance or has greater than 10,000

persons eligible for medical assistance.

(2)  Have less than 200 licensed and staffed inpatient

beds.

(3)  Not be a critical access hospital, as defined in

section 1861(mm)(1) of the Social Security Act (49 Stat. 620,

42 U.S.C. § 1935(mm)(1), that is qualified to participate

under Title XIX of the Social Security Act (49 Stat. 620, 42

U.S.C. § 1396 et seq.).

Section 4.  Funding for fiscal year 2009-2010.

(a)  Distribution.--During the fiscal year beginning July 1,

2009, upon Federal approval of an amendment to the Medicaid

State plan, the department shall allocate annually from funds

appropriated for this purpose disproportionate share payments to

qualified hospitals to provide financial assistance to assure

readily available health care to citizens in certain rural

counties of this Commonwealth.

(b)  Maximizing Federal funds.--The department shall seek to

maximize any Federal funds, including funds obtained under Title

XIX of the Social Security Act (49 Stat. 620, 42 U.S.C. § 1396

et seq.) available for rural community hospitals.

(c)  Payment calculation.--Payments to qualified hospitals

shall be allocated as follows:

(1)  Fifty percent of the total amount available for

qualified hospitals shall be allocated equally among each

qualified hospital.

(2)  Fifty percent of the total amount available shall be

divided proportionately among qualified hospitals based on

the percentage of each qualified hospital's acute medical

assistance inpatient days to total hospital bed days used for

all qualified hospitals.

(3)  A qualified hospital that has reached its

disproportionate share limit as under Title XIX of the Social

Security Act shall receive its share of the State funds

available under this act.

Section 5.  Funding for subsequent fiscal years.

Effective July 1, 2010, the department shall reimburse a

qualified hospital at a rate of 101% of the Medical Assistance

allowable costs for inpatient hospital and outpatient hospital

services provided to a Medical Assistance recipient.

Section 6.  Effective date.

This act shall take effect immediately.