I

104TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 168

To amend title XIX of the Social Security Act with respect to requiring

State plans for appropriately responding to the closing of hospitals,

and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JANUARY 4, 1995

Mrs. COLLINS of Illinois introduced the following bill; which was referred to

the Committee on Commerce

A BILL

To amend title XIX of the Social Security Act with respect

to requiring State plans for appropriately responding

to the closing of hospitals, and for other purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Hospital Closings

5 Community Relief Act of 1995’’.
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1 SEC. 2. REQUIREMENT UNDER MEDICAID PROGRAM OF

2 STATE PLAN FOR APPROPRIATELY RESPOND3 ING TO CLOSING OF HOSPITALS.

4 Section 1902 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C.

5 1396a) is amended by adding at the end the following new

6 subsection:

7 ‘‘(aa)(1) For fiscal year 1997 and subsequent fiscal

8 years, the Secretary may not approve a State plan for

9 medical assistance unless—

10 ‘‘(A) the State has implemented a plan that, in

11 the event of the closing of any hospital in the State,

12 provides for appropriately responding to the result13 ing diminishment in the availability of health serv14 ices in the geographic area involved;

15 ‘‘(B) with respect to the plan required in sub16 paragraph (A), the plan requires that—

17 ‘‘(i) any hospital in the State making a de18 cision to close inform the State of such decision

19 not later than 1 day after the decision is made;

20 ‘‘(ii) the State provide for appropriate con21 fidentiality with respect to such decision;

22 ‘‘(iii) for the purpose of storing the medi23 cal records of the hospital, the records be trans24 ferred to the custody of an appropriate private

25 entity selected by the hospital, subject to the

26 approval of the State;
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1 ‘‘(iv) the custodian of the medical records

2 maintain appropriate confidentiality with re3 spect to the records, and organize the records

4 in a manner sufficient to ensure that the

5 records concerning any particular individual can

6 be retrieved expeditiously;

7 ‘‘(v) the medical records concerning an in8 dividual be made available to a health care pro9 fessional upon the request of the individual;

10 ‘‘(vi) the principal geographic area served

11 by the hospital be identified; and

12 ‘‘(vii) not later than 30 days after the hos13 pital is closed, the residents of such geographic

14 area be informed, to the extent practicable, of

15 the fact of the closing, of alternative sources of

16 health care, and of the fact that the medical

17 records of the hospital have been stored and are

18 available with respect to future health care;

19 ‘‘(C) the plan under subparagraph (A) specifies

20 the details of the manner in which the requirements

21 established in subparagraph (B) will be met;

22 ‘‘(D) with respect to such requirements, the

23 plan under subparagraph (A) satisfies such addi24 tional criteria as the Secretary may establish; and
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1 ‘‘(E) the Secretary determines that the plan

2 meets the requirements of this paragraph.

3 ‘‘(2) For fiscal year 1996, the Secretary may not ap4 prove a State plan for medical assistance unless the State

5 provides assurances satisfactory to the Secretary that the

6 State is making reasonable progress toward the develop7 ment of the plan described in paragraph (1).’’.

8 SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS REGARDING APPROPRIATE

9 NOTIFICATION OF HOSPITAL CLOSINGS.

10 It is the sense of the Congress that not less than 60

11 days prior to the termination of any service or the closure

12 of any facility, a hospital providing services to any urban,

13 suburban, or rural area should notify the community it

14 serves, its employees, and all appropriate government

15 agencies and health care organizations of such termination

16 or closure.

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