CS/CS/HB 257

1	A bill to be entitled
2	An act relating to financial responsibility for medical
3	expenses of arrestees, pretrial detainees, or sentenced
4	inmates; amending s. 901.35, F.S.; providing that the
5	responsibility for paying the expenses of medical care,
6	treatment, hospitalization, and transportation for a
7	person who is ill, wounded, or otherwise injured during or
8	as a result of an arrest for a violation of a state law or
9	a county or municipal ordinance is the responsibility of
10	the person receiving the medical care, treatment,
11	hospitalization, or transportation; deleting provisions
12	establishing the order by which medical providers receive
13	reimbursement for the expenses incurred in providing the
14	medical services; amending s. 951.032, F.S.; setting forth
15	the order by which a county or municipal detention
16	facility may seek reimbursement for the expenses incurred
17	during the course of treating pretrial detainees or
18	sentenced inmates; requiring each pretrial detainee or
19	sentenced inmate who receives medical care or other
20	services to cooperate with the county or municipal
21	detention facility in seeking reimbursement for the
22	expenses incurred by the facility and providing for
23	certain liens against pretrial detainees or sentenced
24	inmates; setting forth the order of fiscal resources from
25	which a third-party provider of medical services may seek
26	reimbursement for the expenses the provider incurred in
27	providing medical care; requiring each arrestee, pretrial
28	detainee, or sentenced inmate who has health insurance,
29	subscribes to a health care corporation, or receives
30	health care benefits from any other source to assign such
31	benefits to the health care provider; requiring assignment
32	of health insurance or health care benefits to providers
33	by arrestees, detainees, or inmates who have such
34	insurance or benefits; specifying the period for which a
35	county or municipality is responsible for medical costs;
36	defining the terms "pretrial detainee" and "sentenced
37	inmate"; specifying the responsibility for restricting the
38	personal freedom of pretrial detainees or sentenced
39	inmates receiving medical care, treatment,
40	hospitalization, or transportation; providing an effective
41	date.
42
43	Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
44
45	Section 1.  Section 901.35, Florida Statutes, is amended to
46	read:
47	901.35  Financial responsibility for medical expenses.-
48	(1)  Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the
49	responsibility for paying the expenses of medical care,
50	treatment, hospitalization, and transportation for any person
51	ill, wounded, or otherwise injured during or as a result at the
52	time of an arrest for any violation of a state law or a county
53	or municipal ordinance is the responsibility of the person
54	receiving such care, treatment, hospitalization, and
55	transportation. The provider of such services shall seek
56	reimbursement in accordance with s. 951.032. The provider of
57	such services shall seek reimbursement for the expenses incurred
58	in providing medical care, treatment, hospitalization, and
59	transportation from the following sources in the following
60	order:
61	(a)  From an insurance company, health care corporation, or
62	other source, if the prisoner is covered by an insurance policy
63	or subscribes to a health care corporation or other source for
64	those expenses.
65	(b)  From the person receiving the medical care, treatment,
66	hospitalization, or transportation.
67	(c)  From a financial settlement for the medical care,
68	treatment, hospitalization, or transportation payable or
69	accruing to the injured party.
70	(2)  Upon a showing that reimbursement from the sources
71	listed in subsection (1) is not available, the costs of medical
72	care, treatment, hospitalization, and transportation shall be
73	paid:
74	(a)  From the general fund of the county in which the
75	person was arrested, if the arrest was for violation of a state
76	law or county ordinance; or
77	(b)  From the municipal general fund, if the arrest was for
78	violation of a municipal ordinance.
79
80	The responsibility for payment of such medical costs shall exist
81	until such time as an arrested person is released from the
82	custody of the arresting agency.
83	(3)  An arrested person who has health insurance,
84	subscribes to a health care corporation, or receives health care
85	benefits from any other source shall assign such benefits to the
86	health care provider.
87	Section 2.  Section 951.032, Florida Statutes, is amended
88	to read:
89	951.032  Financial responsibility for medical expenses.-
90	(1)  A county detention facility or municipal detention
91	facility incurring expenses for providing medical care,
92	treatment, hospitalization, or transportation to pretrial
93	detainees or sentenced inmates may seek reimbursement for the
94	expenses incurred in the following order:
95	(a)  From the pretrial detainee or sentenced inmate
96	prisoner or person receiving medical care, treatment,
97	hospitalization, or transportation by deducting the cost from
98	the pretrial detainee's or sentenced inmate's prisoner's cash
99	account on deposit with the detention facility. If the pretrial
100	detainee's or sentenced inmate's prisoner's cash account does
101	not contain sufficient funds to cover medical care, treatment,
102	hospitalization, or transportation, then the detention facility
103	may place a lien against the pretrial detainee's or sentenced
104	inmate's prisoner's cash account or other personal property, to
105	provide payment in the event sufficient funds become available
106	at a later time. Any existing lien may be carried over to future
107	incarceration of the same detainee or inmate prisoner as long as
108	the future incarceration takes place within the county
109	originating the lien and the future incarceration takes place
110	within 3 years after of the date the lien was placed against the
111	pretrial detainee's or sentenced inmate's prisoner's account or
112	other personal property.
113	(b)  From an insurance company, health care corporation, or
114	other source if the pretrial detainee or sentenced inmate
115	prisoner or person is covered by an insurance policy or
116	subscribes to a health care corporation or other source for
117	those expenses.
118	(2)  A pretrial detainee or sentenced inmate prisoner who
119	receives medical care, treatment, hospitalization, or
120	transportation from a county or municipal detention facility
121	shall cooperate with that the county detention facility or
122	municipal detention facility in seeking reimbursement under
123	paragraphs (1)(a) and (b) for expenses incurred by the facility
124	for the pretrial detainee or sentenced inmate prisoner. A
125	pretrial detainee or sentenced inmate prisoner who willfully
126	refuses to cooperate with the reimbursement efforts of the
127	detention facility may have a lien placed against his or her the
128	prisoner's cash account or other personal property and may not
129	receive gain-time as provided by s. 951.21.
130	(3)  A third-party provider of medical care, treatment,
131	hospitalization, or transportation for arrestees, pretrial
132	detainees, or sentenced inmates of a county or municipal
133	detention facility shall seek reimbursement for the expenses
134	incurred in providing medical care, treatment, hospitalization,
135	and transportation to such arrestees, pretrial detainees, or
136	sentenced inmates from the following sources in the following
137	order:
138	(a)  From an insurance company, health care corporation, or
139	other source, if the arrestee, pretrial detainee, or sentenced
140	inmate is covered by an insurance policy or subscribes to a
141	health care corporation or other source for those expenses.
142	(b)  From the arrestee, pretrial detainee, or sentenced
143	inmate receiving the medical care, treatment, hospitalization,
144	or transportation.
145	(c)  From a financial settlement for the medical care,
146	treatment, hospitalization, or transportation payable or
147	accruing to the injured arrestee, pretrial detainee, or
148	sentenced inmate.
149	(4)  Upon a showing by the third-party provider that a good
150	faith effort was made, consistent with that provider's usual
151	policies and procedures related to the collection of fees from
152	indigent patients outside the custody of a county or municipal
153	detention facility, to obtain reimbursement from the sources
154	listed in subsection (3), but that such reimbursement is not
155	available, the costs of medical care, treatment,
156	hospitalization, and transportation shall be paid:
157	(a) For a person who receives such services during or as a
158	result of an arrest:
159	1.  From the general fund of the county in which the person
160	was arrested, if the arrest was for violation of a state law or
161	county ordinance; or
162	2.  From the municipal general fund, if the arrest was for
163	violation of a municipal ordinance.
164	(b)  For a person who receives such services while detained
165	in a county detention facility, from the county general fund.
166	(c)  For a person who receives such services while detained
167	in a municipal detention facility, from the municipal general
168	fund.
169
170	Absent a written agreement between the third-party provider and
171	the county or municipality, remuneration made pursuant to
172	paragraph (a), paragraph (b), or paragraph (c) shall be billed
173	by the third-party provider and paid by the county or
174	municipality at a rate not to exceed 110 percent of the Medicare
175	allowable rate for such services. Compensation to a third-party
176	provider may not exceed 125 percent of the Medicare allowable
177	rate if there is no written agreement between the third-party
178	provider and the county or municipality, and the third-party
179	provider reported a negative operating margin for the previous
180	year to the Agency for Health Care Administration through
181	hospital-audited financial data. However, these maximum
182	allowable rates do not apply to amounts billed and paid for
183	physicians licensed under chapter 458 or chapter 459 for
184	emergency services provided within a hospital emergency
185	department. The responsibility of the county or municipality for
186	payment of any medical costs shall be limited to those costs
187	incurred while the pretrial detainee or sentenced inmate is in
188	the custody of the detention facility, without regard to whether
189	such costs are actually billed after the pretrial detainee,
190	arrestee, or sentenced inmate is released.
191	(5)  An arrestee, pretrial detainee, or sentenced inmate
192	who has health insurance, subscribes to a health care
193	corporation, or receives health care benefits from any other
194	source shall assign such benefits to the health care provider.
195	(6)  For purposes of this section, the terms "pretrial
196	detainee" and "sentenced inmate" refer to a person brought for
197	medical care, treatment, or hospitalization by or on behalf of
198	law enforcement or the county or municipal jail whose physical
199	freedom is restricted by a certified law enforcement officer or
200	by a certified correctional officer employed by a county or
201	municipality pending adjudication and disposition of an arrest
202	or pending completion of an adjudicated county sentence. These
203	definitions include a person who is furloughed by a court for
204	the express purpose of receiving medical care, treatment, or
205	hospitalization if a condition of such furlough is that the
206	person return to the custody of a county or municipal jail
207	following completion of the medical care, treatment, or
208	hospitalization.
209	(7)  A law enforcement agency with jurisdiction or the
210	county or municipal jail responsible for a pretrial detainee or
211	sentenced inmate, respectively, shall be responsible for
212	restricting the personal freedom of the pretrial detainee or
213	sentenced inmate receiving medical care, treatment,
214	hospitalization, or transportation under this section.
215	Section 3.  This act shall take effect July 1, 2011.

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