2001 SESSION

01-0006

01/09

HOUSE BILL 169-FN

COMMITTEE: Health, Human Services & Elderly Affairs

ANALYSIS

This bill repeals the certificate of need law.

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Explanation: Matter added to current law appears in bold italics.

Matter removed from current law appears [in brackets and struckthrough.]

Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.

01-0006

01/09

STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand One

Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:

1 Reference Deleted. Amend RSA 126:26 to read as follows:

126:26 Data Review. The department of health and human services shall [provide access, without restriction, to the data collected under RSA 126:25 to the health services planning and review board. The department shall] prepare a report relative to the data collected under RSA 126:25, I on or before November 15, 1996, and annually thereafter, to the speaker of the house of representatives and president of the senate. The report shall contain, but not be limited to, an analysis and evaluation of the data collected and recommendations for improved efficiencies and for health care cost containment. The department of health and human services is also authorized to prepare periodic reports on price and utilization of health services for the purpose of encouraging competition.

2 Reference Deleted. Amend the introductory paragraph of RSA 126:28 to read as follows:

Notwithstanding any other provision of law, all information required to be filed under this subdivision[, with the exception of confidential commercial and financial information as defined in RSA 151-C:2,] shall be made available:

3 Reference Changed. Amend RSA 126:29, IV to read as follows:

IV. In addition to any other penalties provided by law, any provider required to provide data under RSA 126:25, [II] I, who willfully fails to comply with the provisions of this subdivision shall be subject to a civil penalty of $50 for each day of noncompliance, which shall not be reimbursable by any commercial insurer, nonprofit health services corporation, health maintenance organization, or multiple employer welfare arrangement as provided in RSA 415, 420-A, 420-B, and 415-E.

4 Reference Deleted. Amend RSA 126:30 to read as follows:

126:30 User Fees. Any person[, other than those covered by the fee provisions of RSA 151-C:15, I,] requesting copies of data or statistical information filed with the department of health and human services under RSA 126 or RSA 141-B shall pay to the department a fee established by the commissioner of health and human services pursuant to RSA 126:27, IV. The fee shall reflect the full costs of preparing the data for release, including the cost of personnel time, computer and any related expenses associated with fulfilling the request. Fees paid under this section shall be deposited into a revolving account which shall not lapse and shall be used in administering the responsibilities of the department of health and human services under this subdivision.

5 Definition Clarified. Amend RSA 151:2, I(a) to read as follows:

(a) Hospitals, [as defined in RSA 151-C:2,] and infirmaries or health services maintained by an educational institution. For the purposes of this subparagraph "hospital" means an institution which is engaged in providing to patients, under supervision of physicians, diagnostic, and therapeutic services for medical diagnosis, treatment and care of injured, disabled, or sick persons, or rehabilitation services for the rehabilitation of such persons. The term "hospital" includes psychiatric and substance abuse treatment hospitals.

6 Definition Clarified. Amend RSA 153-A:2, XI to read as follows:

XI. "Facility" means a hospital as defined in RSA [151-C:2, XX] 151:2, I(a).

7 Reference Deleted. Amend RSA 195-D:3, XII to read as follows:

XII. "Nursing home," notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, means any nonprofit or charitable institution or organization, public or private, which is exempt from federal taxation pursuant to section 501 of the United States Internal Revenue Code of 1986 as amended, and which is engaged in the operation of, or formed for the purpose of operating, a facility in which nursing care, sheltered care, intermediate care, life-care or continuing care, and medical services are prescribed by or performed under the general direction of persons licensed to practice medicine or surgery in New Hampshire, and in whole or in part is, or shall be upon completion, [(a)] licensed as a residential care facility under RSA 151:2, I(e) or [(b) can be upon receipt of a certificate of need under RSA 151-C ] licensed as a nursing home under the laws of New Hampshire.

8 References Deleted. Amend RSA 281-A:2, XII-b to read as follows:

XII-b. "Health care provider" as used in this chapter includes doctors, chiropractors, rehabilitation providers, health services [as defined in RSA 151-C:2, XVIII], health care facilities [as defined in RSA 151-C:2, XV-a], and health maintenance organizations [as defined in RSA 151-C:2, XVI].

(a) For the purposes of this paragraph:

(1) "Health services" means clinically related diagnostic, treatment, or rehabilitative services, as well as preventive services, and includes, without limitation, alcohol, drug abuse, and mental health services.

(2) "Health care facility" means hospitals, ambulatory surgical facilities, specialty hospitals and licensed nursing homes including all services and property owned by such. Health care facilities shall include facilities which are publicly or privately owned or for-profit or not-for-profit, and which are licensed or required to be licensed in whole or in part by the state.

(3) "Health maintenance organization" means a public or private organization, organized under the laws of any state or the federal government which:

(A) Provides or otherwise makes available to enrolled participants health care services, including at least the following basic health care services: usual physician services, hospitalization, laboratory, x-ray, emergency and preventive services, and out-of-area coverage; and

(B) Is compensated, except for co-payments, for the provision of the basic health care services listed in subparagraph (3)(A) to enrolled participants on a predetermined periodic basis without regard to the date on which health care services are provided; a predetermined periodic basis shall be fixed without regard to the frequency, extent, or kind of health care service actually provided; and

(C) Provides physician services primarily (i) directly through physicians who are either employees or partners of such organization, or (ii) through arrangements with individual physicians or one or more groups of physicians organized in a group practice or individual basis, or (iii) a combination of (i) and (ii), as provided herein.

9 Reference Changed. Amend RSA 318:29, V(i) to read as follows:

(i) Any ownership or control of an ownership interest of a pharmacy within the state by an individual licensed to prescribe medicine, or a corporation, professional association or partnership consisting of such prescriber or prescriber's immediate family members, except such corporations as are expressly exempt from income taxation under section 501(c)(3) of the United States Internal Revenue Code. This shall not include ownership of investment securities purchased by the practitioner on terms available to the general public and which are publicly traded. This subparagraph shall not apply to the ownership or control of an ownership interest of an institutional pharmacy operated within the state by or for hospitals, as defined in RSA [151-C:2, XX] 151:2, I(a), licensed by the state pursuant to RSA 151.

10 Reference Deletion. Amend the introductory paragraph of RSA 326-B:17, IX(a) to read as follows:

IX.(a) The administration of medications by any person employed or under contract to provide direct care to residents of a hospice house [as defined in RSA 151-C:2, XIX-b and] licensed under RSA 151 and rules adopted under that chapter as a hospice house under the supported residential care level of care by the New Hampshire department of health and human services who:

11 New Subparagraph; Definition Added. Amend RSA 326-B:17, IX by inserting after subparagraph (b) the following new subparagraph:

(c) For the purposes of this paragraph, "hospice house" means a free standing 24-hour residential setting licensed under RSA 151 as a supported residential care facility for terminally ill individuals with less than one year to live who no longer have a home or cannot remain safely there. Palliative care such as room, meals, personal care, medication monitoring and emotional support, is provided. Additional health care services may be provided to residents through arrangements with outside organizations as is currently available if the resident was in his or her own home.

12 References Deleted. Amend RSA 508:18 to read as follows:

508:18 Liability Limited; Health Care Facilities and Personnel.

I. No health care facility licensed under RSA 151, licensed physician, registered nurse, certified physician's assistant or qualified medical technician or medical technologist ordered by a law enforcement officer to perform a test, medical examination or procedure on a person in the custody of such officer, shall be held liable for any damage arising out of the performance of such test, examination, or procedure, if the test, examination, or procedure is performed with ordinary care. Nothing in this section shall be construed to legalize an otherwise illegal test, examination or procedure insofar as the law enforcement agency and any employee thereof is concerned.

II. For purposes of this section, "health care facility" means ["health care facility" as defined in RSA 151-C:2, XV-a] hospitals, ambulatory surgical facilities, specialty hospitals and licensed nursing homes including all services and property owned by such. Health care facilities shall include facilities which are publicly or privately owned or for-profit or not-for-profit, and which are licensed or required to be licensed in whole or in part by the state.

13 Repeal. The following are repealed:

I. RSA 126:25, II, relative to a plan developed by the health services planning and review board.

II. RSA 151-C, relative to certificate of need review of proposed new institutional health services.

14 Effective Date. This act shall take effect 60 days after its passage.

LBAO

01-0006

1/5/01

HB 169-FN - FISCAL NOTE

FISCAL IMPACT: