81R11240 TJS-F
By: Coleman H.B. No. 4503
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to charity care and government-sponsored indigent health
care provided by certain hospitals.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter D, Chapter 311, Health and Safety
Code, is amended by adding Section 311.0435 to read as follows:
Sec. 311.0435. DUTY OF FOR-PROFIT HOSPITALS TO PROVIDE
COMMUNITY BENEFITS. (a) For purposes of this section, "political
subdivision" means a county, municipality, special district,
school district, or other governmental subdivision of this state.
(b) A hospital that receives a tax abatement from a
political subdivision, other than a nonprofit hospital to which
Section 311.043 applies or a hospital owned or operated by a
political subdivision, shall provide charity care and
government-sponsored indigent health care as provided by this
section.
(c) Subject to Subsection (d), a hospital to which this
section applies shall provide charity care in an amount equal to at
least five percent of the hospital's gross patient revenue, and
government-sponsored indigent health care in an amount equal to at
least four percent of the hospital's gross patient revenue. A
hospital's gross patient revenue and the amount of charity care and
government-sponsored indigent health care provided is determined
by the hospital's most recently completed, audited fiscal year.
(d) A hospital may reduce the amount of charity care and
government-sponsored indigent care that it is required to provide
under this section as reasonably necessary due to a natural
disaster or other emergency that requires the hospital
substantially to curtail its operations.
(e) A hospital's admissions policy shall provide for the
admission of financially indigent and medically indigent persons,
as those terms are defined by Section 311.031.
(f) The department may deny, suspend, or revoke a hospital's
license for a violation of this section in accordance with Section
241.053.
SECTION 2. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
Act takes effect September 1, 2009.