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Regular Session, 2010
HOUSE RESOLUTION NO. 176
BY REPRESENTATIVE NOWLIN
A RESOLUTION
To urge and request the Department of Health and Hospitals to study the impact of the
Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act on Louisiana-based community mental
health centers and to report the findings and conclusions of the study to the House
Committee on Health and Welfare by January 1, 2011.
WHEREAS, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, hereinafter referred to
as the "Act", provides that beginning April 1, 2011, in order to meet the definition of a
community mental health center, forty percent of the services delivered by such a facility
must be provided to non-Medicare recipients; and
WHEREAS, Louisiana's community mental health centers currently serve a Medicare
insured clientele that receives approximately ninety percent of the total services of these
centers and generates in excess of eighty-five million dollars for our state's economy; and
WHEREAS, in the event that Louisiana's community mental health centers cannot
meet the forty percent threshold mandated by the Act, that funding could be substantially
reduced or lost entirely; and
WHEREAS, the Act also expands Medicaid eligibility income limits to one hundred
and thirty-three percent of the federal poverty level beginning in 2014; and
WHEREAS, the Department of Health and Hospitals estimates this change in
eligibility criteria may add as many as six hundred thousand Louisiana residents to the
Medicaid program, meaning that almost forty percent of our population will be insured by
Medicaid, making it virtually impossible for Louisiana-based community mental health
centers to meet the payor mix threshold mandated by the Act if they are not permitted to
provide services to the Medicaid insured population; and
WHEREAS, Louisiana currently has fifty-seven Medicare certified community
mental health centers which are currently limited to providing only Medicaid mental health
rehabilitation services; and ENROLLEDHR NO. 176
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WHEREAS, the state seeks to continue offering the services provided by community
mental health centers to its residents and to ensure quality care and freedom of choice of
providers in a fiscally prudent manner.
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the House of Representatives of the
Legislature of Louisiana does hereby urge and request the Department of Health and
Hospitals to study the impact of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act on
Louisiana-based community mental health centers.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Department of Health and Hospitals shall
address the following matters in the study:
(1)The role those centers should play in implementing comprehensive
behavioral and mental health services within the state.
(2)The potential costs of various options to expand participation of community
mental health centers in the Medicaid program.
(3)Any actions needed to assure the continued participation by community
mental health centers in the Medicare program.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the secretary of the Department of Health and
Hospitals shall submit a report of the findings and conclusions of the study to the House
Committee on Health and Welfare by January 1, 2011.
SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATI VES