2SSB 5127 - H AMD to FIN COMM AMD (H3150.1)527 WITHDRAWN 4-11-97

By Representative Mulliken

On page 5, beginning on line 10, strike sections 7 and 8, and insert:

"NEW SECTION. Sec. 7. The committees on finance and health care of the house of representatives shall conduct a joint interim study on trauma care funding.

(1) The study shall:

(a) Review how health care providers and facilities determine which patients are classified as trauma care patients;

(b) Examine actual trauma care records for fiscal year 1997 to determine how the four million six hundred thousand dollars appropriated from the state's general fund for trauma care was spent and whether the appropriation was sufficient to reimburse all eligible trauma centers for treating medically indigent persons who had a trauma index severity score of 16 or higher;

(c) Determine if reimbursement at the Medicaid rate covers, on average, a trauma center's actual costs for treating a medically indigent person. If reimbursement at the Medicaid rate does not cover actual costs, then the study shall determine by how much the reimbursement at the Medicaid rate fails to cover actual costs;

(d) Review grants, contributions, and other income received by trauma center facilities which are not fee-for-service revenues.

(e) Compare and contrast financial statements for health care facilities providing trauma care to determine if the overall financial condition of such facilities has worsened, improved, or held constant over the last five years; and

(f) Analyze any other information which assists the committees to better understand the amount of funding needed for trauma care.

(2) The office of program research shall provide staff support for the study. The department of health and the emergency medical services and trauma care steering committee shall provide information and technical support as needed."

Renumber sections consecutively, correct any internal references accordingly, and correct the title.