BILL REQ. #: S-4000.1
State of Washington | 62nd Legislature | 2012 Regular Session |
Read first time 01/27/12. Referred to Committee on Health & Long-Term Care.
AN ACT Relating to hospital financing and tax preference eligibility; amending RCW 70.37.010, 70.37.030, 70.37.090, 84.36.840, 84.36.040, and 82.04.4311; reenacting and amending RCW 70.37.050; and adding a new section to chapter 70.37 RCW.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
Sec. 1 RCW 70.37.010 and 1974 ex.s. c 147 s 1 are each amended to
read as follows:
The good health of the people of our state is a most important
public concern. The state has a direct interest in seeing to it that
health care facilities adequate for good public health are established
and maintained in sufficient numbers and in proper locations. The
rising costs of care ((of the infirm)) constitute a grave challenge not
only to health care providers but to our state and the people of our
state who will seek such care. It is hereby declared to be the public
policy of the state of Washington to assist and encourage the building,
providing and utilization of modern, well equipped and reasonably
priced health care facilities, and the improvement, expansion and
modernization of health care facilities in a manner that will minimize
the capital costs of construction, financing and use thereof and
thereby the costs to the public of the use of such facilities, ((and to
contribute to improving)) while contributing to improve the quality of
health care available to our citizens and ensuring accountability for
the cost of care. In order to accomplish these and related purposes
this chapter is adopted and shall be liberally construed to carry out
its purposes and objects.
Sec. 2 RCW 70.37.030 and 2002 c 91 s 1 are each amended to read
as follows:
There is hereby established a public body corporate and politic,
with perpetual corporate succession, to be known as the Washington
health care facilities authority. The authority shall constitute a
political subdivision of the state established as an instrumentality
exercising essential governmental functions. The authority is a
"public body" within the meaning of RCW 39.53.010. The authority shall
consist of the governor who shall serve as chair((man)), the lieutenant
governor, the insurance commissioner, the secretary of health, and four
legislators, one from each caucus and ((one)) three members of the
public with no fiduciary interest or responsibility toward any health
care facility or organization within seven years prior to appointment
who shall be appointed by the governor, subject to confirmation by the
senate, on the basis of the member's interest or expertise in health
care delivery, for a term expiring on the fourth anniversary of the
date of appointment. The lieutenant governor and the four legislative
members are nonvoting members. In the event that any of the offices
referred to shall be abolished the resulting vacancy on the authority
shall be filled by the officer who shall succeed substantially to the
powers and duties thereof. The members of the authority shall be
compensated in accordance with RCW 43.03.240 and shall be entitled to
reimbursement, solely from the funds of the authority, for travel
expenses incurred in the discharge of their duties under this chapter,
subject to the provisions of RCW 43.03.050 and 43.03.060. A majority
shall constitute a quorum.
The governor and the insurance commissioner each may designate an
employee of his or her office to act on his or her behalf during the
absence of the governor or the insurance commissioner at one or more of
the meetings of the authority. The vote of the designee shall have the
same effect as if cast by the governor or the insurance commissioner if
the designation is in writing and is presented to the person presiding
at the meetings included within the designation.
The governor may designate a member to preside during the
governor's absence.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 3 A new section is added to chapter 70.37 RCW
to read as follows:
To further the public policy set forth in RCW 70.37.010, the
authority shall require participants in a hospital project to agree, as
minimum conditions of financing, that the hospital must:
(1) Provide charity care that exceeds the average expenditures for
charity care, as reported to the department of health, provided by the
peer group of hospitals in this state during the year immediately
preceding the year in which a financing application is submitted under
this chapter;
(2) Implement one or more programs to substantially reduce the
number and rate of emergency department visits for nonemergent health
conditions. Such programs may include, but are not limited to:
(a) Maintaining full-service primary care capacity outside the
emergency department to serve as an accessible, available alternative
to emergency department care for nonemergent care; or
(b) Maintaining an urgent care center as an accessible, available
alternative to emergency department care for nonemergency care;
(3) Agree to participate in activities that enhance accountable
care such as providing reports to physicians with seventy-two hours of
admission or emergency room visits, and other measures suggested by the
Puget Sound health alliance and leading quality organizations, and
adopted in rule by the authority;
(4)(a) Agree to provide data on community health needs, consistent
with the meaning of community health needs as defined in 26 U.S.C. Sec.
501 and any implementing regulations and guidance adopted by the
federal internal revenue service as it existed on the effective date of
this section, or such subsequent date as may be provided by the
department by rule. Documentation of the community health needs
requires submission of the following:
(i) A description of the community served by the hospital,
including both a geographic description and a description of the
general population served by the hospital;
(ii) A description of the prioritized health needs of the
community, including:
(A) The five most common causes of death in the community; and
(B) The extent to which the community experiences ambulatory
sensitive conditions. Ambulatory sensitive conditions are those
preventable conditions, acute illnesses including mental health
illnesses, and chronic diseases that decrease in response to primary
care access, yet are associated with hospitalizations and increased
societal health care costs;
(b) The description must identify any existing facilities,
providers, or resources that are owned, operated, or jointly managed by
the hospital or any health system with which the hospital is
affiliated;
(c) The description must include copies of the policies for
charging facility fees, the policies on sharing access to electronic
medical records with all community providers, and the policies on
determining charges for the uninsured relative to the best payer rates
that have been negotiated.
Sec. 4 RCW 70.37.050 and 1983 c 210 s 2 and 1983 c 167 s 171 are
each reenacted and amended to read as follows:
(1) The authority shall:
(a) Establish rules concerning its exercise of the powers
authorized by this chapter((. The authority shall)); and
(b) Receive from applicants requests for the providing of bonds for
financing of health care facilities, and ((shall)) investigate and
determine the need and the feasibility of providing such bonds. As
part of its review of requests for financing awarded on or after the
effective date of this section, the authority must consider whether the
applicant submits all the information requested in section 3 of this
act.
(2)(a) Whenever the authority deems it necessary or advisable for
the benefit of the public health to provide financing for a health care
facility, it shall adopt a financing plan therefor and shall declare
the estimated cost thereof, as near as may be, including as part of
such cost funds necessary for the expenses incurred in the financing as
well as in the construction or purchase or other acquisition or in
connection with the rental or other payment for the use thereof,
interest during construction, reserve funds and any funds necessary for
initial start-up costs, and shall issue and sell its bonds for the
purposes of carrying out the proposed financing plan((: PROVIDED,
That)). However, if a certificate of need is required for the proposed
project, no such financing plan shall be adopted until such certificate
has been issued pursuant to chapter 70.38 RCW ((by the secretary of the
department of social and health services)).
(b) The authority shall have power as a part of ((such)) a plan
adopted under this subsection to create a special fund or funds for the
purpose of defraying the cost of such project and for other projects of
the same participant subsequently or at the same time approved by it
and for their maintenance, improvement, reconstruction, remodeling and
rehabilitation, into which special fund or funds it shall obligate and
bind the participant to set aside and pay from the gross revenues of
the project or from other sources an amount sufficient to pay the
principal and interest of the bonds being issued, reserves and other
requirements of the special fund and to issue and sell bonds payable as
to both principal and interest out of such fund or funds relating to
the project or projects of such participant.
((Such)) (c) Bonds ((shall)) issued under this subsection must bear
such date or dates, mature at such time or times, be in such
denominations, be in such form, either coupon or registered, or both,
as provided in RCW 39.46.030, carry such registration privileges, be
made transferable, exchangeable, and interchangeable, be payable in
such medium of payment, at such place or places, be subject to such
terms of redemption, bear such fixed or variable rate or rates of
interest, and be sold in such manner, at such price, as the authority
((shall)) determines. Such bonds ((shall)) must be executed by the
chair((man)), by either its duly elected secretary or its executive
director, and by the trustee if the authority determines to utilize a
trustee for the bonds. Execution of the bonds may be by manual or
facsimile signature((: PROVIDED, That)); however, at least one
signature placed thereon ((shall)) must be manually subscribed. Any
interest coupons appurtenant to the bonds ((shall)) must be executed by
facsimile or manual signature or signatures, as the authority ((shall))
determines.
Sec. 5 RCW 70.37.090 and 1974 ex.s. c 147 s 9 are each amended to
read as follows:
The authority shall have power to:
(1) Require persons applying for its assistance in connection with
((the investigation and financing of)) projects to pay fees and charges
to provide the authority with funds for: (a) Investigation((,)) and
financial feasibility studies((,)); (b) expenses of issuance and sale
of bonds; (c) review and verification of information provided to verify
compliance with section 3 of this act; and (d) other charges for
services provided by the authority in connection with such projects.
All other expenses of the authority including compensation of its
employees and consultants, expenses of administration and conduct of
its work and business and other expenses shall be paid out of such fees
and charges, out of contributions and grants to it, out of the proceeds
of bonds issued for projects of participants, or out of revenues of
such projects; none of its expenses may be paid by the state of
Washington((. The authority shall have power to)); and
(2) Establish special funds into which ((such)) money received by
the authority shall be ((received)) deposited and out of which it may
be disbursed by the persons and with the procedure and in the manner
established by the authority.
Sec. 6 RCW 84.36.840 and 2007 c 111 s 305 are each amended to
read as follows:
(1) In order to determine whether organizations, associations,
corporations, or institutions, except those exempted under RCW
84.36.020 and 84.36.030, are exempt from property taxes, and before the
exemption ((shall be)) is allowed for any year, the superintendent or
manager or other proper officer of the organization, association,
corporation, or institution claiming exemption from taxation ((shall))
must file with the department of revenue a statement certifying that
the income and the receipts thereof, including donations to it, have
been applied to the actual expenses of operating and maintaining it, or
for its capital expenditures, and to no other purpose. This report
((shall)) must also include a statement of the receipts and
disbursements of the exempt organization, association, corporation, or
institution.
(2) Educational institutions claiming exemption under RCW 84.36.050
((shall)) must also file a list of all property claimed to be exempt,
the purpose for which it is used, the revenue derived from it for the
preceding year, the use to which the revenue was applied, the number of
students who attended the school or college, the total revenues of the
institution with the source from which they were derived, and the
purposes to which the revenues were applied, listing the items of such
revenues and expenditures in detail.
(3) A nonprofit hospital that claims an exemption under RCW
84.36.040 must file the documents requested in RCW 84.36.040.
(4) The reports required under ((subsections (1) and (2) of)) this
section may be submitted electronically, in a format provided or
approved by the department, or mailed to the department. Except as
otherwise provided in subsection (3) of this section, the reports
((shall)) must be submitted on or before March 31st of each year. The
department ((shall)) must remove the tax exemption from the property of
any organization, association, corporation, or institution that does
not file the required report with the department on or before the due
date. However, the department ((shall)) must allow a reasonable
extension of time for filing upon receipt of a written request on or
before the required filing date and for good cause shown therein.
Sec. 7 RCW 84.36.040 and 2010 c 106 s 305 are each amended to
read as follows:
(1)(a) The real and personal property used by, and for the purposes
of, the following nonprofit organizations is exempt from property
taxation:
(((a))) (i) Child day care centers ((as defined in subsection (4)
of this section));
(((b))) (ii) Free public libraries;
(((c))) (iii) Orphanages and orphan asylums;
(((d))) (iv) Homes for the sick or infirm;
(((e))) (v) Hospitals for the sick that meet the requirements in
subsection (4) of this section; and
(((f))) (vi) Outpatient dialysis facilities.
(b) For the purposes of this subsection, "hospitals for the sick"
does not include freestanding emergency rooms that advertise as an
emergency room nor other facilities acquired by the hospital that are
not physically connected or adjacent to a licensed hospital under
chapter 70.41 RCW.
(2) The real and personal property leased to and used by a hospital
for hospital purposes is exempt from property taxation if the hospital
is established under chapter 36.62 RCW or is owned and operated by a
public hospital district established under chapter 70.44 RCW.
(3) To be exempt under this section, the property must be used
exclusively for the purposes for which exemption is granted, except as
provided in RCW 84.36.805, and the benefit of the exemption must inure
to the user.
(4) To be exempt under this section, a nonprofit hospital or public
hospital district must:
(a) Provide documentation of the charity care provided including
costs of care as well as charges of care;
(b) Provide documentation of the salaries of the top five highest
paid officials; and
(c) Document the availability of inpatient mental health beds,
voluntary and involuntary, in their hospital is relative to the
community needs for such services. The beds must be reported as a
percentage of available hospital beds in the hospital and in the
region. Hospitals within a region may make arrangements to trade the
availability of mental health beds with another facility in the region
in exchange for a funding offset or other agreement that must be
provided with the above documentation.
(5) For purposes of ((subsection (1) of)) this section, "child day
care center" means a nonprofit organization that regularly provides
child day care and early learning services for a group of children for
periods of less than twenty-four hours.
Sec. 8 RCW 82.04.4311 and 2005 c 86 s 1 are each amended to read
as follows:
(1) A public hospital that is owned by a municipal corporation or
political subdivision, or a nonprofit hospital, or a nonprofit
community health center, or a network of nonprofit community health
centers, that qualifies as a health and social welfare organization as
defined in RCW 82.04.431, may deduct from the measure of tax amounts
received as compensation for health care services covered under the
federal medicare program authorized under Title XVIII of the federal
social security act; medical assistance, children's health, or other
program under chapter 74.09 RCW; or for the state of Washington basic
health plan under chapter 70.47 RCW, so long as the hospital submits
the documentation required in RCW 84.36.040. The deduction authorized
by this section does not apply to amounts received from patient
copayments or patient deductibles.
(2) As used in this section, "community health center" means a
federally qualified health center as defined in 42 U.S.C. 1396d as
existing on August 1, 2005.