5949 AMS RASM S2592.1

SB 5949 - S AMD 266

By Senator Rasmussen

Strike everything after the enacting clause and insert the following:

"NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. (1) The department of health, in consultation with affected stakeholders such as hospitals, physicians, and nurses, shall study the establishment of specialty hospitals, and the impact that specialty hospitals have on the delivery of health care. At a minimum the study shall include but not be limited to evaluating the following issues as they pertain to specialty hospitals:

(a) The availability and delivery of health care services;

(b) Patient safety;

(c) Continuity of patient care;

(d) The provision of emergency services, including the effect of the presence or absence of an emergency department in specialty hospitals;

(e) Staffing of any existing hospitals in the community served by a specialty hospital, including the effect of specialty hospitals on health care professional shortages, nursing staffing, and the availability of specialty physicians to provide on-call emergency services; and

(f) The provision of charity care, medicare and medicaid services, services for medically indigent patients, uncompensated care, community service, and access to health care services by medically underserved populations in new and existing hospitals including a comparison of these in relation to hospital tax exemptions and other governmental subsidies.

(2) The study also shall include an evaluation of whether requirements for establishing specialty hospitals should be addressed through certificate of need or hospital licensing requirements.

(3) For the purposes of the study, "specialty hospitals" does not include specialty hospitals that provide only psychiatric, pediatric, long-term acute care, or rehabilitative services.

(4) The department of health shall prepare and present a report to the legislature regarding the study no later than December 1, 2003."

SB 5949 - S AMD 266

By Senator Rasmussen

On page 1, line 1 of the title, after "services;" strike the remainder of the title and insert "and creating a new section."

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