HBA-DMH H.B. 975 77(R)    BILL ANALYSIS


Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 975
By: Maxey
Public Health
3/1/2001
Introduced



BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

Nonprofit hospitals are required to submit a community benefits plan which
includes a calculation of the hospital's unreimbursed costs in providing
charity care.  Under current law, unreimbursed costs are calculated using a
hospital's audited financial statement.  A Medicare cost report is a
standardized statement to the federal government based on pure patient
costs used to set Medicare reimbursement rates. This cost report includes
patient care and capital expenses, but does not allow hospitals to include
certain expenditures such as billed charges for which the hospital expects
to receive payment.  Using numbers from the Medicare cost report as a base
for calculating unreimbursed costs for charity care allows for more
accurate comparisons among hospitals.  House Bill 975 requires nonprofit
hospitals to report their charity care based on the Medicare cost report
and also makes technical and clarifying changes. 

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does
not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state
officer, department, agency, or institution. 

ANALYSIS

House Bill 975 amends the Health and Safety Code to modify the calculation
of costs and cost to charge ratios used  for purposes of determining
unreimbursed costs incurred in providing charity care and community
benefits (Sec. 311.031).  The bill specifies that state university public
hospitals are required to prepare an annual report and provides that state
university public hospitals are to be included in the annual report
submitted to the attorney general and comptroller of public accounts by the
Texas Department of Health (Secs.  311.0455 and 311.046). 

The bill amends the Tax Code to update statutory references and make
technical changes (Sec.  11.18).  

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2001.