Senate Bill No. 250
(By Senators Green, White, Palumbo, Jenkins and Facemire)
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[Introduced February 13, 2009; referred to the Committee on the
Judiciary; 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 §31-20-5f, relating
to inmate reimbursement to the authority for medical
services provided to persons held in regional jails.
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 §31-20-5f, to read as
follows:
ARTICLE 20. WEST VIRGINIA REGIONAL JAIL AND CORRECTIONAL
FACILITY AUTHORITY.
§31-20-5f. Charges assessed against inmates for services
provided by the authority.
(a) The executive director is authorized to assess inmates
serving a sentence in any regional jail reasonable charges for
health care and treatment services provided to them by the
authority. The charges assessed against an inmate may be
deducted directly from the inmate's trustee account without the
inmate's consent. The inmate shall be notified of the amount
deducted and the charges to which it has been applied.
(b) As used in this section, a "reasonable charge" may not
exceed the sum of $5 for any billable service. Inmates shall be
notified of the fee schedule, billable services and exempt
services. Services initiated by the inmate shall be assessed a
fee, except that no charge may be assessed for:
(1) A specific health care service required under the law of
this state, including, by way of illustration, tuberculin
testing;
(2) An emergency service following a traumatic injury other
than a self-induced injury, or necessary to prevent death or
severe or permanent disability;
(3) Diagnosis and treatment of communicable diseases,
including, by way of illustration, tuberculosis or hepatitis;
(4) Treatment of diagnosed severe mental illness;
(5) Treatment of specific chronic conditions identified by
the executive director, including heart disease and diabetes;
(6) Staff-initiated care, including follow-up and referral
visits;
(7) Preventative services that the executive director
determines are to be provided or made available to all inmates,
including services related to disease prevention and promotion of
proper health habits; or
(8) Other services as may be exempted by the rule of the
authority.
No inmate may be denied any necessary billable medical
service because of the inability to pay the charge.
(c) Each inmate shall be afforded an opportunity at least
quarterly to review all deposits into, withdrawals from and
balance remaining in the inmate's trustee account during the
preceding three months.
(d) The executive director shall promulgate interpretive
rules implementing this section pursuant to article three,
chapter twenty-nine-a of this code prior to making any assessment
under this section. The rules may establish the fee schedule and
list of billable services and further define services to be
exempted.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to authorize the West
Virginia Regional Jail and Correctional Facility Authority to
assess charges against inmates for medical services. The bill
permits a reasonable copayment to be deducted directly from an
inmate's trustee account for nonemergency medical treatment.
This section is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.
This bill was recommended for introduction and passage
during the 2009 Regular Session of the Legislature by the
Legislative Oversight Committee on Regional Jail and Correctional
Facility Authority.