HOUSE AMENDMENT
Bill No. HB 177 CS
   
1 CHAMBER ACTION
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Senate House
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12          Representative Garcia offered the following:
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14          Amendment (with directory and title amendments)
15          Remove line(s) 26-77, and insert:
16          (t)1. For the provision of adult open-heart services in a
17    hospital located within the boundaries of Palm Beach, Polk,
18    Martin, St. Lucie, or Indian River Counties or in a municipality
19    with a population of more than 240,000 if the following
20    conditions are met: the exemption must be based upon objective
21    criteria and address and solve the twin problems of geographic
22    and temporal access. A hospital shall be exempt from the
23    certificate-of-need review for the establishment of an open-
24    heart-surgery program when the application for exemption
25    submitted under this paragraph complies with the following
26    criteria:
27          a. The applicant must certify that it will meet and
28    continuously maintain the minimum licensure requirements adopted
29    by the agency governing adult open-heart programs, including the
30    most current guidelines of the American College of Cardiology
31    and American Heart Association Guidelines for Adult Open Heart
32    Programs.
33          b. The applicant must certify that it will maintain
34    sufficient appropriate equipment and health personnel to ensure
35    quality and safety.
36          c. The applicant must certify that it will maintain
37    appropriate times of operation and protocols to ensure
38    availability and appropriate referrals in the event of
39    emergencies.
40          d. The applicant can demonstrate that it is referring 300
41    or more patients per year from the hospital, including the
42    emergency room, for cardiac services at a hospital with cardiac
43    services, or that the average wait for transfer for 50 percent
44    or more of the cardiac patients exceeds 4 hours.
45          e. The applicant is a general acute care hospital that has
46    been in operation for 3 years or more.
47          f. The applicant is performing more than 300 diagnostic
48    cardiac catheterization procedures per year, combined inpatient
49    and outpatient.
50          g. The applicant's payor mix at a minimum reflects the
51    community average for Medicaid, charity care, and self-pay
52    patients or the applicant must certify that it will provide a
53    minimum of 5 percent of Medicaid, charity care, and self-pay to
54    open-heart-surgery patients.
55          h. If the applicant fails to meet the established criteria
56    for open-heart programs or fails to reach 300 surgeries per year
57    by the end of its third year of operation, it must show cause
58    why its exemption should not be revoked.
59          2. By December 31, 2004, and annually thereafter, the
60    Agency for Health Care Administration shall submit a report to
61    the Legislature providing information concerning the number of
62    requests for exemption received under this paragraph and the
63    number of exemptions granted or denied.
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65    ================= T I T L E A M E N D M E N T =================
66          Remove line(s) 16-17, and insert:
67          report to the Legislature; providing an effective date.