Senate Bill No. 550
(By Senators Prezioso, Foster, Hunter and Jenkins)
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[Introduced March 15, 2005; referred to the Committee
on Health and Human Resources; and then to the Committee on
Finance.]
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A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by
adding thereto a new section, designated §16-5B-14, relating
to designation of rural hospitals for purposes of the Critical
Access Hospital Program.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended
by adding thereto a new section, designated §16-5B-14, to read as
follows:
ARTICLE 5B. HOSPITALS AND SIMILAR INSTITUTIONS.
§16-5B-14. The Critical Access Hospital Designation Act.
A hospital located in an urban area (Metropolitan Statistical
Areas (MSA) County), can be considered "rural" for the purposes of
the Secretary designating a Critical Access Hospital pursuant to
Section 1820(c2) of the Social Security Act if it meets the following criteria:
(1) Is enrolled as both a Medicaid and Medicare provider and
accepts assignment for all Medicaid and Medicare patients;
(2) Provides emergency health care services to indigent
patients;
(3) Maintains 24-hour emergency services; and
(4) Is located in a county with fifty percent or more rural
residents, as defined by the most recent United States decennial
census.
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(NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to allow the Secretary to
designate hospitals in urban counties as rural hospitals for
purposes of participating in the Medicare Critical Access Hospital
Program.
The section is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.)
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