House Bill 0959
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Florida House of Representatives - 2000 HB 959
By Representative Crady
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to financial responsibility for
3 indigent hospital patients; amending s.
4 154.306, F.S.; providing for excluding
5 active-duty military personnel and certain
6 institutionalized county residents from state
7 population estimates when calculating a
8 county's financial responsibility for
9 hospitals' treatment of the county's indigent
10 residents; providing an effective date.
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12 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
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14 Section 1. Subsection (1) of section 154.306, Florida
15 Statutes, is amended to read:
16 154.306 Financial responsibility for certified
17 residents who are qualified indigent patients treated at an
18 out-of-county participating hospital or regional referral
19 hospital.--Ultimate financial responsibility for treatment
20 received at a participating hospital or a regional referral
21 hospital by a qualified indigent patient who is a certified
22 resident of a county in the State of Florida, but is not a
23 resident of the county in which the participating hospital or
24 regional referral hospital is located, is the obligation of
25 the county of which the qualified indigent patient is a
26 resident. Each county shall reimburse participating hospitals
27 or regional referral hospitals as provided for in this part,
28 and shall provide or arrange for indigent eligibility
29 determination procedures and resident certification
30 determination procedures as provided for in rules developed to
31 implement this part. The agency, or any county determining
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Florida House of Representatives - 2000 HB 959
209-238-00
1 eligibility of a qualified indigent, shall provide to the
2 county of residence, upon request, a copy of any documents,
3 forms, or other information, as determined by rule, which may
4 be used in making an eligibility determination.
5 (1) A county's financial obligation for each certified
6 resident who qualifies as an indigent patient under this part,
7 and who has received treatment at an out-of-county hospital,
8 shall not exceed 45 days per county fiscal year at a rate of
9 payment equivalent to 100 percent of the per diem
10 reimbursement rate currently in effect for the out-of-county
11 hospital under the medical assistance program for the needy
12 under Title XIX of the Social Security Act, as amended, except
13 that those counties that are at their 10-mill cap on October
14 1, 1991, shall reimburse hospitals for such services at not
15 less than 80 percent of the hospital Medicaid per diem.
16 However, nothing in this section shall preclude a hospital
17 that has a formal signed agreement with a county to treat such
18 county's indigents from negotiating a higher or lower per diem
19 rate with the county. No county shall be required to pay more
20 than the equivalent of $4 per capita in the county's fiscal
21 year. The agency shall calculate and certify to each county
22 by March 1 of each year, the maximum amount the county may be
23 required to pay by multiplying the most recent official state
24 population estimate for the total population of the county by
25 $4 per capita. For the purpose of computing the maximum amount
26 that the county may be required to pay, the agency must reduce
27 the official state population estimates by the number of
28 inmates and patients residing in the county in institutions
29 operated by the Federal Government, the Department of
30 Corrections, the Department of Health, or the Department of
31 Children and Family Services, and by the number of active-duty
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Florida House of Representatives - 2000 HB 959
209-238-00
1 military personnel residing in the county, all of whom shall
2 not be considered to be residents of the county. Each county
3 shall certify to the agency within 60 days after the end of
4 the county's fiscal year, or upon reaching the $4 per capita
5 threshold, should that occur before the end of the fiscal
6 year, the amount of reimbursement it paid to all out-of-county
7 hospitals under this part. The maximum amount a county may be
8 required to pay to out-of-county hospitals for care provided
9 to qualified indigent residents may be reduced by up to
10 one-half, provided that the amount not paid has or is being
11 spent for in-county hospital care provided to qualified
12 indigent residents.
13 Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2000.
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16 SENATE SUMMARY
17 Provides that, in using the formula set forth in s.
154.306, F.S., to calculate a county's responsibility to
18 pay for hospital treatment of indigent residents of that
county, the Agency for Health Care Administration must
19 subtract from the official state population estimate the
number of active-duty military personnel residing in the
20 county and the number of inmates and patients who are
residing in specified institutions in that county.
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