SF 1709

as introduced - 85th Legislature (2007 - 2008) Posted on 12/15/2009 12:00am

A bill for an act
relating to health; allowing applications for and renewals of essential
community provider status; providing grants and other funding to safety net
health care providers; modifying reimbursement rates; requiring grants for
MinnesotaCare outreach and unreimbursed health care costs; requiring a study of
the MinnesotaCare application and enrollment process; appropriating money;
amending Minnesota Statutes 2006, sections 62Q.19, subdivisions 2, 6; 62Q.23;
144.3345, subdivision 2; 256B.0625, subdivision 30, by adding a subdivision;
256L.04, by adding a subdivision.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:

Section 1.

Minnesota Statutes 2006, section 62Q.19, subdivision 2, is amended to read:

Subd. 2.

Application.

(a) Any provider may apply to the commissioner for
designation as an essential community provider by submitting an application form
developed by the commissioner. deleted text begin Except as provided in paragraph (d), applications must be
accepted within two years after the effective date of the rules adopted by the commissioner
to implement this section.
deleted text end

(b) Each application submitted must be accompanied by an application fee deleted text begin in an
amount determined by the commissioner deleted text end new text begin of $60 new text end . The fee shall be no more than what is
needed to cover the administrative costs of processing the application.

(c) The name, address, contact person, and the date by which the commissioner's
decision is expected to be made shall be classified as public data under section 13.41. All
other information contained in the application form shall be classified as private data
under section 13.41 until the application has been approved, approved as modified, or
denied by the commissioner. Once the decision has been made, all information shall be
classified as public data unless the applicant designates and the commissioner determines
that the information contains trade secret information.

deleted text begin (d) The commissioner shall accept an application for designation as an essential
community provider until June 30, 2004, from one applicant that is a nonprofit community
services agency certified as a medical assistance provider that provides mental health,
behavioral health, chemical dependency, employment, and health wellness services to
the underserved Spanish-speaking Latino families and individuals with locations in
Minneapolis and St. Paul.
deleted text end

Sec. 2.

Minnesota Statutes 2006, section 62Q.19, subdivision 6, is amended to read:

Subd. 6.

Termination or renewal of designation; commissioner review.

The
designation as an essential community provider deleted text begin shall be valid for a five-year period
from the date of designation deleted text end new text begin must be renewed every five years new text end . Five years after the
designation of essential community provider is granted to a provider, new text begin and every five
years thereafter, new text end the commissioner shall review the need for and appropriateness of
continuing the designation for that provider. The commissioner may require a provider
whose designation is to be reviewed to submit an application to the commissioner for
renewal of the designation and may require an application fee new text begin of $60 new text end to be submitted
with the application to cover the administrative costs of processing the application.
Based on that review, the commissioner may renew a provider's essential community
provider designation for an additional five-year period or terminate the designation. Once
the designation terminates, the former essential community provider has no rights or
privileges beyond those of any other health care provider.

Sec. 3.

Minnesota Statutes 2006, section 62Q.23, is amended to read:

62Q.23 GENERAL SERVICES.

(a) Health plan companies shall comply with all continuation and conversion of
coverage requirements applicable to health maintenance organizations under state or
federal law.

(b) Health plan companies shall comply with sections 62A.047, 62A.27, and any
other coverage required under chapter 62A of newborn infants, dependent children who do
not reside with a covered person, disabled children and dependents, and adopted children.
A health plan company providing dependent coverage shall comply with section 62A.302.

(c) Health plan companies shall comply with the equal access requirements of
section 62A.15.

new text begin (d) Health plan companies shall cover interpreter services to the same extent as
interpreter services are covered by the medical assistance program under chapter 256B.
new text end

Sec. 4.

Minnesota Statutes 2006, section 144.3345, subdivision 2, is amended to read:

Subd. 2.

Grants authorized.

new text begin (a) new text end The commissioner of health shall award grants
to eligible community e-health collaborative projects new text begin and to individual organizations
as specified in paragraph (b) new text end to improve the implementation and use of interoperable
electronic health records including but not limited to the following projects:

(1) collaborative efforts to host and support fully functional interoperable electronic
health records in multiple care settings;

(2) electronic medication history and electronic patient registration information;

(3) electronic personal health records for persons with chronic diseases and for
prevention services;

(4) rural and underserved community models for electronic prescribing; and

(5) enabling local public health systems to rapidly and electronically exchange
information needed to participate in community e-health collaboratives or for public
health emergency preparedness and response.

Grant funds may not be used for construction of health care or other buildings or
facilities.

new text begin (b) The commissioner shall award grants to community clinics as defined under
section 145.9268, subdivision 1, federally qualified health centers, community mental
health centers, community dental clinics that primarily serve low-income and uninsured
persons, and nonprofit organizations that provide public health home nursing services to
uninsured patients, for the purposes listed in paragraph (a). An organization must not
be required to be part of a community e-health collaborative in order to receive a grant
under this paragraph.
new text end

Sec. 5.

Minnesota Statutes 2006, section 256B.0625, subdivision 30, is amended to
read:

Subd. 30.

Other clinic services.

(a) Medical assistance covers rural health clinic
services, federally qualified health center services, nonprofit community health clinic
services, public health clinic services, and the services of a clinic meeting the criteria
established in rule by the commissioner. Rural health clinic services and federally
qualified health center services mean services defined in United States Code, title 42,
section 1396d(a)(2)(B) and (C). Payment for rural health clinic and federally qualified
health center services shall be made according to applicable federal law and regulation.

(b) A federally qualified health center that is beginning initial operation shall submit
an estimate of budgeted costs and visits for the initial reporting period in the form and
detail required by the commissioner. A federally qualified health center that is already in
operation shall submit an initial report using actual costs and visits for the initial reporting
period. Within 90 days of the end of its reporting period, a federally qualified health
center shall submit, in the form and detail required by the commissioner, a report of
its operations, including allowable costs actually incurred for the period and the actual
number of visits for services furnished during the period, and other information required
by the commissioner. Federally qualified health centers that file Medicare cost reports
shall provide the commissioner with a copy of the most recent Medicare cost report filed
with the Medicare program intermediary for the reporting year which support the costs
claimed on their cost report to the state.

(c) In order to continue cost-based payment under the medical assistance program
according to paragraphs (a) and (b), a federally qualified health center or rural health clinic
must apply for designation as an essential community provider within six months of final
adoption of rules by the Department of Health according to section 62Q.19, subdivision
7. For those federally qualified health centers and rural health clinics that have applied
for essential community provider status within the six-month time prescribed, medical
assistance payments will continue to be made according to paragraphs (a) and (b) for the
first three years after application. For federally qualified health centers and rural health
clinics that either do not apply within the time specified above or who have had essential
community provider status for three years, medical assistance payments for health services
provided by these entities shall be according to the same rates and conditions applicable
to the same service provided by health care providers that are not federally qualified
health centers or rural health clinics.

(d) Effective July 1, 1999, the provisions of paragraph (c) requiring a federally
qualified health center or a rural health clinic to make application for an essential
community provider designation in order to have cost-based payments made according
to paragraphs (a) and (b) no longer apply.

(e) Effective January 1, 2000, payments made according to paragraphs (a) and (b)
shall be limited to the cost phase-out schedule of the Balanced Budget Act of 1997.

(f) Effective January 1, 2001, each federally qualified health center and rural health
clinic may elect to be paid either under the prospective payment system established
in United States Code, title 42, section 1396a(aa), or under an alternative payment
methodology consistent with the requirements of United States Code, title 42, section
1396a(aa), and approved by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The
alternative payment methodology shall be 100 percent of deleted text begin cost deleted text end new text begin costs new text end as determined
deleted text begin according to deleted text end new text begin by generally accepted accounting principles, and annual new text end Medicare cost
deleted text begin principles deleted text end new text begin reports, including Medicaid-eligible cost add-ons new text end .

Sec. 6.

Minnesota Statutes 2006, section 256B.0625, is amended by adding a
subdivision to read:

new text begin Subd. 39a. new text end

new text begin Influenza vaccine. new text end

new text begin The commissioner of human services shall reimburse
providers for administration of influenza vaccine to enrollees at the payment rate set
by the Medicare program.
new text end

Sec. 7.

Minnesota Statutes 2006, section 256L.04, is amended by adding a subdivision
to read:

new text begin Subd. 14. new text end

new text begin MinnesotaCare outreach. new text end

new text begin The commissioner shall award grants to
federally qualified health centers, community clinics, community mental health centers,
other safety net clinics, and hospitals, to provide information on the importance of
maintaining insurance coverage and on how to obtain coverage through the MinnesotaCare
program or other programs in communities and regions with high uninsured populations.
new text end

Sec. 8. new text begin UNCOMPENSATED CARE FUND.
new text end

new text begin The commissioner of health shall study and present recommendations to the
governor and the legislature by January 15, 2008, on the design and operation of an
uncompensated care fund to be used to provide subsidies to hospitals, community clinics,
federally qualified health centers, community mental health centers, and other health care
providers that serve a disproportionately large percentage of uninsured patients.
new text end

Sec. 9. new text begin GRANT FOR TOLL-FREE HEALTH CARE ACCESS NUMBER.
new text end

new text begin The commissioner shall award a grant to the Neighborhood Health Care Network to
pay the costs of maintaining and staffing a toll-free telephone number to provide callers
with information on health coverage options, eligibility for MinnesotaCare and other
health care programs, and health care providers that offer free or reduced-cost health
care services.
new text end

Sec. 10. new text begin GRANTS FOR UNREIMBURSED COSTS.
new text end

new text begin The commissioner of health shall award grants to community clinics defined under
Minnesota Statutes, section 145.9268, subdivision 1, federally qualified health centers,
community mental health centers, hospitals for which uninsured patients represent
six percent or more of patient visits, community dental clinics that primarily serve
low-income and uninsured persons, and nonprofit organizations that provide public health
home nursing services to uninsured patients. Grants must be used to cover the cost of
unreimbursed health care services provided to patients who are uninsured. In awarding
grants, the commissioner shall give preference to applicants for which costs related to
unreimbursed health care services provided to uninsured patients represent a significant
proportion of total costs.
new text end

Sec. 11. new text begin MINNESOTACARE APPLICATION AND ENROLLMENT.
new text end

new text begin The commissioner of human services shall present recommendations to the
legislature by January 15, 2008, on: (1) simplification of the MinnesotaCare application
form and enrollment process so that the application form does not exceed four pages in
length and the average time required to complete the form does not exceed 30 minutes;
and (2) methods for online, electronic enrollment and eligibility determination that will
allow MinnesotaCare eligibility to be determined in health care clinics and hospitals
when an uninsured patient seeks treatment.
new text end

Sec. 12. new text begin APPROPRIATIONS.
new text end

new text begin Subdivision 1. new text end

new text begin General fund. new text end

new text begin (a) $....... for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2008,
and $....... for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2009, are appropriated from the general fund
to the commissioner of health for medical education and research grants under Minnesota
Statutes, section 62J.692, to be allocated in a manner that maximizes federal financial
participation.
new text end

new text begin (b) $....... for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2008, and $....... for the fiscal year
ending June 30, 2009, are appropriated from the general fund to the commissioner of
health for the loan forgiveness program established under Minnesota Statutes, section
144.1501, to be used to address shortages of health care professionals practicing in
primary care clinics, community health centers, community mental health centers, and
community dental clinics that primarily serve low-income and uninsured patients.
new text end

new text begin Subd. 2. new text end

new text begin Health care access fund. new text end

new text begin (a) $....... is appropriated from the health care
access fund to the commissioner of health for the biennium ending June 30, 2009, to
provide grants under Minnesota Statutes, section 144.3345, subdivision 2, paragraph (b).
new text end

new text begin (b) $....... is appropriated from the health care access fund to the commissioner of
human services for the biennium ending June 30, 2009, for MinnesotaCare outreach grants
under Minnesota Statutes, section 256L.04, subdivision 14.
new text end

new text begin (c) $....... is appropriated from the health care access fund to the commissioner of
human services for the biennium ending June 30, 2009, for a grant to support the toll-free
telephone number under section 9.
new text end

new text begin (d) $....... is appropriated from the health care access fund to the commissioner
of health for the biennium ending June 30, 2009, for grants to safety net providers for
unreimbursed health care costs under section 10.
new text end