HM 145

1
House Memorial
2A memorial to the Congress of the United States, urging
3Congress to create a nationwide Emergency Room Staffing
4Initiative.
5
6     WHEREAS, a crisis exists whereby an insufficient number of
7physicians and medical specialists are available to provide on-
8call emergency room support, and
9     WHEREAS, in order to provide a more stable health care
10system in America, an incentive must be created to encourage
11physicians and medical specialists to more actively participate
12in these on-call emergency room responsibilities as part of
13their hospital staffing duties, and
14     WHEREAS, an increased number of indigent care cases and
15patients without health insurance seeking medical attention has
16helped to discourage many practitioners and specialists from
17desiring to serve in on-call services in emergency rooms, and
18     WHEREAS, when combined with already dramatically reduced
19reimbursement rates, the staffing crisis is exacerbated, NOW,
20THEREFORE,
21
22Be It Resolved by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
23
24     That the Congress of the United States is urged to create a
25nationwide initiative in order to remedy this staffing crisis by
26amending the nation's tax code to allow for all uncompensated
27emergency room work to be eligible as a charitable deduction
28against earned income for the practicing physician or medical
29specialist up to a maximum of $100,000. Charges eligible for
30this deduction should be based on a rate equivalent to 200
31percent of the Medicare reimbursement rate at the time the
32service is rendered. In the absence of an applicable Medicare
33billing code, hospitals may charge a fee not to exceed 100
34percent of the average customary and reasonable charges allowed
35under private health insurance for any services rendered.
36     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be
37dispatched to the President of the United States, to the
38President of the United States Senate, to the Speaker of the
39United States House of Representatives, and to each member of
40the Florida delegation to the United States Congress.


CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.