Bill Text: MS HB413 | 2014 | Regular Session | Engrossed
Bill Title: Mississippi Qualified Health Center and Rural Health Clinic Capacity Building Grant Program; establish.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Failed) 2014-03-04 - Died In Committee [HB413 Detail]
Download: Mississippi-2014-HB413-Engrossed.html
MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2014 Regular Session
To: Public Health and Human Services; Appropriations
By: Representative Mims
House Bill 413
(As Passed the House)
AN ACT TO ESTABLISH THE MISSISSIPPI QUALIFIED HEALTH CENTER AND RURAL HEALTH CLINIC CAPACITY BUILDING GRANT PROGRAM UNDER THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE STATE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH FOR THE PURPOSE OF MAKING COMPETITIVE GRANTS TO MISSISSIPPI QUALIFIED HEALTH CENTERS AND RURAL HEALTH CLINICS TO USE IN INCREASING ACCESS TO CARE TO UNINSURED OR MEDICALLY INDIGENT PATIENTS IN MISSISSIPPI; TO PROVIDE THAT GRANTS AWARDED TO MISSISSIPPI QUALIFIED HEALTH CENTERS AND RURAL HEALTH CLINICS SHALL ONLY BE USED BY THOSE CENTERS TO INCREASE PATIENT ACCESS TO PREVENTATIVE AND PRIMARY CARE SERVICES; TO PRESCRIBE THE POWERS OF THE DEPARTMENT FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE PROGRAM; TO PROVIDE THAT THE DEPARTMENT SHALL ESTABLISH A FUND FOR THE PURPOSE OF PROVIDING CAPACITY BUILDING GRANTS TO MISSISSIPPI QUALIFIED HEALTH CENTERS AND RURAL HEALTH CLINICS IN ACCORDANCE WITH THIS ACT; TO CREATE A SPECIAL FUND IN THE STATE TREASURY TO BE KNOWN AS THE MISSISSIPPI QUALIFIED HEALTH CENTER AND RURAL HEALTH CLINIC CAPACITY BUILDING GRANT PROGRAM FUND, FROM WHICH GRANTS AND EXPENDITURES AUTHORIZED IN CONNECTION WITH THE PROGRAM SHALL BE DISBURSED; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. For purposes of this act:
(a) "Mississippi qualified health center" means a public or nonprofit entity that provides comprehensive primary care services that:
(i) Has a community board of directors, the majority of whom are users of such centers;
(ii) Accepts all patients that present themselves despite their ability to pay and uses a sliding-fee schedule for payments; and
(iii) Serves a designated medically underserved area or population or health professional shortage area, as provided in Section 330 of the Public Health Service Act.
(b) "Rural health clinic" means a public or nonprofit entity that:
(i) Is governed by a community-based board, the majority of whom are users or patients of the clinic's services;
(ii) Is located in a rural area that is underserved or lacking health professionals;
(iii) Provides care for all ages and primary care services to all persons regardless of financial status;
(iv) Uses a sliding-fee scale for payments that is based on the patient's ability to pay and is tied to federal poverty guidelines;
(v) Demonstrates an ongoing quality assurance program and provides annual independent financial audits to the department;
(vi) Has all physicians provide documentation of proper hospital admitting privileges; and
(vii) Provides documentation to the department at the time the application is presented that the clinic meets the qualification standards in subparagraphs (i) through (vi) not later than September 1, 2014.
(c) "Uninsured or medically indigent patient" means a patient receiving services from a Mississippi qualified health center or a rural health clinic who is not eligible for Medicaid or Medicare for health-care costs or receiving third-party payments via an employer.
(d) "Department" means the State Department of Health.
(e) "Primary care" means the basic entry level of health care provided by health-care practitioners or non-physician health-care practitioners, which is generally provided in an outpatient setting.
(f) "Medically underserved area or population" means an area designated by the Secretary of the United States Department of Health and Human Services as an area with a shortage of primary care providers, high infant mortality, high poverty and/or high elderly population.
(g) "Health Professional Shortage Area (HPSA)" means an area designated by the United States Department of Health and Human Services as having shortages of primary medical care, dental or mental health providers and may be geographic, demographic or institutional.
(h) "Competitive grant" means a grant awarded after scoring against other grant applications by the department to a Mississippi qualified health center or a rural health clinic in accordance with this act.
(i) "Program" means the Mississippi Qualified Health Center and Rural Health Clinic Capacity Building Grant Program established in this act.
SECTION 2. The Mississippi Qualified Health Center and Rural Health Clinic Capacity Building Grant Program is established, under the direction and administration of the State Department of Health, for the purpose of making competitive grants to Mississippi qualified health centers and rural health clinics for their use in increasing access to care to uninsured or medically indigent patients in Mississippi. The Mississippi Qualified Health Center and Rural Health Clinic Capacity Building Grant Program shall be established with such state funds as may be appropriated by the Legislature and will be prorated based on the level of appropriated funds.
SECTION 3. (1) Any Mississippi qualified health center or rural health clinic desiring to participate in the program shall make application for a competitive grant to the department in a form satisfactory to the department. The department shall receive grant proposals from Mississippi qualified health centers and rural health clinics. All proposals shall be submitted in accordance with the provisions of grant procedures, criteria and standards developed and made public by the department.
(2) Grants that are awarded to Mississippi qualified health centers and rural health clinics shall only be used by those centers and clinics to increase patient access to preventative and primary care services by one (1) of the following:
(a) Offering extended service hours, including, but not limited to, primary care medical and preventive services, dental services, optometric services, laboratory services, diagnostic services, pharmacy services, nutritional services, social services and other services as required by Section 330 of the Public Health Services Act;
(b) Expanding satellite, school-based, or mobile facilities to provide services;
(c) Implementing and expanding workforce collaboration initiatives to increase access to services for patients of Mississippi qualified health centers and rural health clinics; or
(d) Establishing programs to reduce the inappropriate use of emergency rooms for non-life threatening illnesses and increase access to primary care services in outpatient settings.
(3) Grants received by Mississippi qualified health centers and rural health clinics under this act shall not be used:
(a) To supplant federal funds traditionally received by those entities, but shall be used to supplement them; or
(b) For land acquisition or capital construction costs.
(4) Grants received by Mississippi qualified health centers and rural health clinics under this act shall provide:
(a) A justification of how the project will increase access to care, eliminate barriers to care, address major health needs, and reduce health disparities for the uninsured or medically indigent;
(b) The service area of each proposed capacity building project;
(c) The number of new patients to be served, including the uninsured;
(d) The number of additional health care providers and staff needed to serve the proposed population; and
(e) The projected total cost associated with the capacity building project.
(5) The department shall:
(a) Develop regulations, procedures and application forms to govern how the competitive grants will be awarded.
(b) Structure an objective review committee to ensure that grants are competitively awarded and distributed based on need and feasibility. The objective review committee shall include individuals who have knowledge and experience of federally qualified health center (FQHC) and rural health clinic operations and management, grant writing and administration and of major policy and access issues involving primary care services. No member of the review committee shall participate if he or she could have any monetary effect on any business with which that member is associated, as defined in Section 25-4-103.
(c) Develop an audit process to assure that grant monies are used to provide and expand access to care for primary health care services.
(d) Use criteria based on rural health clinic standards and guidelines and/or Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) new access points and new service/expansion criteria for guidance in developing and promulgating rules and regulations.
(e) Review and consider in developing program parameters and criteria the growth priorities as contained and identified in the rural health clinic standards and guidelines and/or FQHC statewide strategic growth plan.
(6) The department may establish an advisory council to make recommendations regarding the development and promulgation of regulations, procedures, application forms, objective review committee structuring and timeline for the program.
(7) The department shall establish a fund for the purpose of providing capacity building grants to Mississippi qualified health centers and rural health clinics in accordance with this act. The total amount of grants issued under this act shall be Four Million Eight Hundred Thousand Dollars ($4,800,000.00) per state fiscal year, and no individual grant to a qualified health center or a rural health clinic shall exceed twenty-five percent (25%) of the annual award unless there are not enough qualified applications. All approved grants shall be awarded within thirty (30) days of approval by the department.
(8) The department may use a portion of any grant monies received under this act to administer the program and to pay reasonable expenses incurred by the objective review committee and any established advisory council; however, in no case shall more than one and one-half percent (1-1/2%) or Seventy Two Thousand Dollars ($72,000.00) annually, whichever is greater, be used for program expenses.
(9) No assistance shall be provided to a Mississippi qualified health center or a rural health clinic under this act unless the Mississippi qualified health center or rural health clinic certifies to the department that it will not discriminate against any employee or against any applicant for employment because of race, religion, color, national origin, sex or age.
SECTION 4. There is created a special fund in the State Treasury to be known as the Mississippi Qualified Health Center and Rural Health Clinic Capacity Building Grant Program Fund, from which grants and expenditures authorized in connection with the program shall be disbursed. All monies received by legislative appropriation to carry out the purposes of this act shall be deposited into the Mississippi Qualified Health Center and Rural Health Clinic Capacity Building Grant Program Fund.
SECTION 5. This act shall stand repealed on July 1, 2020.
SECTION 6. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2014.
