Establishes the enhanced safety net hospital program to provide for the payment, solely by the state, of enhanced medical assistance payments to hospitals which serve the uninsured or recipients of medical assistance, are public sector hospitals, or are federally designated as critical access or sole community hospitals.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
 
BILL NUMBER: A7763
SPONSOR: Gottfried (MS)
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the public health law, in relation to establishing the
enhanced safety net hospital program
 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
To define enhanced safety net hospitals and provide for adjusted Medi-
caid rates in order to assure their financial viability.
 
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:
Add a new subdivision 34 to Public Health Law § 2807-c to establish an
enhanced safety net hospital program. The definition of "enhanced safety
net hospital" is based on ratios of patients served who are either
enrolled in Medicaid or uninsured, as well as public hospitals, State
University hospitals, and federally designated sole community and crit-
ical access hospitals.
The Commissioner of Health would adjust Medicaid rates for enhanced
safety net hospitals to support critically needed health care services
and continued operation of such hospitals. The state share of the Medi-
caid adjustment would not include a local share.
 
JUSTIFICATION:
The state budget for fiscal year 2017-18 includes appropriations for
Enhanced Safety Net Hospitals and Critical Access Hospitals. These
appropriations are intended to highlight and support the valuable role
these institutions play in stabilizing underserved communities.
It is necessary to enact a statutory program with a payment rate adjust-
ment in order to assure the financial viability of safety net providers,
support the vital services they provide, and acknowledge their benefit
to our state.
 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2016: A.9476-a passed the Assembly and Senate but was vetoed by the
Governor.
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
To be determined by appropriation
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
April 1, 2018.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
7763
2017-2018 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
May 15, 2017
___________
Introduced by M. of A. GOTTFRIED, JONES, COLTON, LIFTON, STECK, MOSLEY
-- Multi-Sponsored by -- M. of A. WEINSTEIN -- read once and referred
to the Committee on Health
AN ACT to amend the public health law, in relation to establishing the
enhanced safety net hospital program
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Section 2807-c of the public health law is amended by
2 adding a new subdivision 34 to read as follows:
3 34. Enhanced safety net hospital program. (a) For the purposes of this
4 subdivision, "enhanced safety net hospital" means a hospital which:
5 (i) in any of the previous three calendar years, has met the following
6 criteria:
7 (A) not less than fifty percent of the patients it treats receive
8 medicaid or are medically uninsured;
9 (B) not less than forty percent of its inpatient discharges are
10 covered by medicaid;
11 (C) twenty-five percent or less of its discharged patients are commer-
12 cially insured;
13 (D) not less than three percent of the patients it provides services
14 to are attributed to the care of uninsured patients; and
15 (E) provides care to uninsured patients in its emergency room, hospi-
16 tal based clinics and community based clinics, including the provision
17 of important community services, such as dental care and prenatal care;
18 (ii) is a public hospital operated by a county, municipality, public
19 benefit corporation or the state university of New York; or
20 (iii) is federally designated as a critical access or sole community
21 hospital.
22 (b) The commissioner shall adjust medical assistance rates to enhanced
23 safety net hospitals for the purposes of supporting critically needed
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD11742-01-7
A. 7763 2
1 health care services and to ensure the continued maintenance and opera-
2 tion of such hospitals.
3 (c) Payment of the non-federal share of the medical assistance
4 payments made pursuant to this subdivision shall be the responsibility
5 of the state and shall not include a local share. Payments made pursuant
6 to this subdivision may be added to rates of payment or made as aggre-
7 gate payments to eligible general hospitals.
8 § 2. This act shall take effect April 1, 2018.