CS/HM 145

1	House Memorial
2	A memorial to the Congress of the United States, urging
3	Congress to create a nationwide Emergency Room Staffing
4	Initiative.
5
6	WHEREAS, the number of people seeking emergency room care
7	is increasing, and
8	WHEREAS, the Federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor
9	Act provides that hospitals with an emergency department must
10	provide emergency care without regard to the person's ability to
11	pay for services, and
12	WHEREAS, many practitioners and specialists who are on call
13	provide services in emergency rooms to persons who are unable to
14	pay for the services, and
15	WHEREAS, many physicians and medical specialists are not
16	available to, or are unwilling under current circumstances to,
17	provide on-call emergency room services, and
18	WHEREAS, an incentive may encourage physicians and medical
19	specialists to provide more on-call emergency room services,
20	NOW, THEREFORE,
21
22	Be It Resolved by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
23
24	That the Congress of the United States is urged to create a
25	nationwide initiative to encourage physicians and medical
26	specialists to increase their participation in providing on-call
27	emergency room services by amending the nation's tax code to
28	allow for all uncompensated emergency room work to be eligible
29	as a charitable deduction against earned income for the
30	practicing physician or medical specialist up to a maximum of
31	$100,000. Charges eligible for this deduction should be based on
32	a rate equivalent to 200 percent of the Medicare reimbursement
33	rate at the time the service is rendered. In the absence of an
34	applicable Medicare billing code, the charge for this deduction
35	should be based on a fee not to exceed 100 percent of the
36	average customary and reasonable charges allowed under private
37	health insurance for any services rendered.
38	BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be
39	dispatched to the President of the United States, to the
40	President of the United States Senate, to the Speaker of the
41	United States House of Representatives, and to each member of
42	the Florida delegation to the United States Congress.

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