H. B. 4557
(By Delegates Perdue, Moore, Guthrie, Mahan
and Hatfield)
[Introduced
February 18, 2010
; referred to the
Committee on Health and Human Resources.]
A BILL to amend and reenact §16-29E-5 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to the Legislative Oversight
Commission on Health and Human Resource Accountability
reviewing all of the Department of Health and Human Resources
requests for proposals or change orders valued at over
$500,000 prior to their release.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §16-29E-5 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 29E. LEGISLATIVE OVERSIGHT COMMISSION ON HEALTH AND HUMAN
RESOURCES ACCOUNTABILITY.
§16-29E-5. Powers and duties of commission.
(a) The
powers, duties and responsibilities of the commission
shall:
include the following
(1) Make a continuing investigation, study and review of the
practices, policies and procedures of the health care and social services agencies in this state;
(2) Make a continuing investigation, study and review of all
matters related to health and social policy in the state;
(3) Review program development by the various agencies of the
Department of Health and Human Resources if those programs impact
the physical, emotional or social well-being of the citizens of
West Virginia;
(4) Review, prior to release, all of the Department of Health
and Human Resources' requests for proposals, and change orders to
existing contracts, estimated to be valued at over $500,000;
(4) (5) Conduct studies on:
(A) The amount of funds expended by hospitals and other health
care providers of this state for services to persons who are unable
to pay for those services and for which they receive no other form
of reimbursement;
(B) The extent to which persons in this state forego needed
medical services because of insufficient income and assets to pay
for those services;
(C) The extent to which the state is maximizing available
federal programs and moneys in providing health care services to
the citizens of this state;
(D) The operation of the programs and funds created by article
twenty-nine-c of this chapter; and
(E) The roles of the public, private and private nonprofit
sectors in providing health care services to the citizens of this state;
(5) (6) Review and study the State Medicaid program in order
to determine if the State Medicaid agency, as the payor of last
resort, is expending maximum effort to identify alternate private
insurance resources for Medicaid beneficiaries;
(6) (7) Review and study the feasibility and financial impact
upon the state of assuring increased access to Medicaid
beneficiaries to primary health care in the nonhospital setting by
requiring enrollment in a primary care clinic program, if available;
(7) (8) Review and study the feasibility and financial impact
upon the state of the establishment of different and lesser
schedules of payment for primary health services delivered by a
hospital emergency room as compared to the schedule of payments for
emergency room services of a true medical emergency nature;
(8) (9) Conduct a study on the effects of rural health
networks, including effects on the quality, cost and availability
of care; and
(9) (10) Meet jointly with the advisory committee created in
article thirty-five of this chapter to determine methods for
coordinating the collection and analysis of health care information
within the state, including the development of health information
systems that will allow for the electronic transmittal of data and
access by the various agencies of government.
(b) The commission shall make annual reports to the Legislature
regarding the results of all investigations, studies and reviews pursuant to the provisions of section seven of this article.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to require the Legislative
Oversight Commission on Health and Human Resource Accountability to
review all of the Department of Health and Human Resources' RFPs and
change orders on existing contracts valued at over $500,000.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.