hb 1365

CHAPTER 255

HB 1365-FN - FINAL VERSION

AN ACT requiring that the county departments of correction be charged 110 percent of the Medicare rate for inmates who need medical services within the community.

SPONSORS: Rep. Odell, Sull 5; Rep. Phinizy, Sull 7; Rep. Jones, Sull 3; Sen. Prescott, Dist 19

This bill requires that the county departments of correction be charged 110 percent of the Medicare rate for inmates who need medical services within the community.

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Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.

AN ACT requiring that the county departments of correction be charged 110 percent of the Medicare rate for inmates who need medical services within the community.

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

255:1 New Paragraphs; Reimbursement Rate for Medical Care for Inmates Incarcerated in the County Prison Systems Established. Amend RSA 623:1 by inserting after paragraph II the following new paragraphs:

III.(a) Except as provided in subparagraphs (b) through (f) and notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, no hospital or emergency room shall charge a county or their agent more than 110 percent of the Medicare allowable rate for inpatient or emergency room care provided for inmates in county correctional facilities.

(b) Allowances provided by hospitals shall qualify as community benefits under RSA 7:32-d, III(b).

(c) Hospitals reported by the department of health and human services as having a negative operating margin in the most recent year for which hospital-audited financial data is available shall charge no more than 125 percent of the Medicare rate.

(d) A superintendent of a county correctional facility may waive the application of subparagraph (a) if the superintendent determines such action is necessary to ensure inmate access to medically necessary care.

(e) A superintendent of a county correctional facility may waive the application of subparagraph (a) if the superintendent determines such action to be necessary for the efficient operations of the county correctional facility.

IV. Pharmacists shall substitute generically equivalent drug products for all legend and non-legend prescriptions paid for by the county department of corrections, including the medicaid program, unless the prescribing practitioner specifies that the brand name drug product is medically necessary. Such notification shall be in the practitioner's own handwriting and shall be retained in the pharmacist's file. The superintendent may waive the application of paragraph III if the superintendent determines such action is necessary to ensure the availability of prescription and other pharmaceutical services to persons served by the county or to avert serious economic hardship in the provision of prescriptions and other pharmaceutical services. The county commissioners shall adopt necessary rules and regulations to implement this paragraph.