WEST virginia legislature

2020 regular session

Introduced

House Bill 4822

By Delegate Hill

[Introduced February 11, 2020; Referred to the Committee on Health and Human Resources]

A BILL to amend and reenact §16-5B-5a and §16-5B-6a of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, all relating to the licensure of hospitals; permitting hospitals to use other accrediting organizations which have been approved by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services for accrediting purposes; clarifying and updating the number of consumer representatives on a hospital’s board of directors; and transferring certain enforcement authority from the Director of Health to the Secretary of Department of Health and Human Resources.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:

ARTICLE 5B. HOSPITALS AND SIMILAR INSTITUTIONS.

§16-5B-5a. Accreditation reports accepted for periodic license inspections.

Notwithstanding any other provision of this article, a periodic license inspection shall not be conducted by the state Department of Health and Human Resources for a hospital if the hospital has applied for and received an exemption from that requirement: Provided, That no exemption granted diminishes the right of the state Department of Health and Human Resources to conduct complaint inspections: Provided, however, That no exemption granted relieves a hospital from compliance with §16-5B-6a of this code.

The state Department of Health and Human Resources shall grant an exemption from a periodic license inspection during the year following accreditation if a hospital applies by submitting evidence of its accreditation by the joint commission on accreditation of health care organizations, or the American osteopathic association or any accrediting organization approved by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and submits a complete copy of the commission's accrediting organization’s accreditation report.

If the accreditation of a hospital is for a period longer than one year, the state Department of Health and Human Resources may conduct at least one license inspection of the hospital after the first year of accreditation and before the accreditation has expired and may conduct additional license inspections if needed. Hospitals receiving a three-year accreditation shall conduct annual self-evaluations using the current year accreditation manual for hospitals (AMH) unless the state Department of Health and Human Resources informs the hospital that the hospital will be inspected by the state Department of Health and Human Resources. Hospitals are not required to conduct self-evaluations for any calendar year during which they are inspected by the state Department of Health and Human Resources. These self-evaluations shall be completed and placed on file in the hospital by the thirty-first day of March of each year. Hospitals shall make the results of the self-evaluation available to the state Department of Health and Human Resources if requested.

Accreditation reports filed with the state Department of Health and Human Resources shall be treated as confidential in accordance with §16-5B-10 of this code.

§16-5B-6a. Consumer majorities representatives on hospital boards of directors.

(a) The Legislature declares that a crisis in health care costs exists, that one important approach to deal with this crisis is to have widespread citizen participation in hospital decision making and that many hospitals in West Virginia exclude from their boards important categories of consumers, including small businesses, organized labor, elderly persons and lower-income consumers. The Legislature further declares that nonprofit hospitals receive such major revenue from public sources and are so crucial in health planning and development that it is necessary to require consumer representatives on their boards of directors. Therefore, the Legislature determines that nonprofit hospitals and hospitals owned by local governments should have boards of directors representative of the communities they serve.

(b) As used in this section, “applicable hospitals” means all nonprofit hospitals and all hospitals owned by a county, city or other political subdivision of the State of West Virginia.

(c) At least 40 percent of the boards of directors of applicable hospitals shall on or before July 1, 1984 be composed of an equal portion of consumer representatives from each of the following four consumer categories: small businesses, organized labor, elderly persons, and persons whose income is less than the national median income. When a board of directors has fewer than eight members, it will not be required to be composed of more consumer representatives than are necessary to achieve 40 percent. The composition of the consumer representative members of any board of directors must be representative of as many consumer categories as possible and no representatives in any one consumer category may exceed the number of consumer representatives in any other category by more than one. Special consideration shall be made to select women, racial minorities and handicapped persons.

(d) The provisions of this section may be enforced by the director of health secretary of the department, or by any citizen resident, or by any citizen of the county wherein any offending hospital is located, by the filing of an action at law in the circuit court of such county.

NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to permit hospitals to use other accrediting organizations which have been approved by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services for accrediting purposes. The bill clarifies and updates the number of consumer representatives on a hospital’s board of directors. The bill transfers certain enforcement authority from the Director of Health to the Secretary of Department of Health and Human Resources.

Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from a heading or the present law and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.