2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE TWENTY-FOUR - Health and Sanitation (§§ 1 — 15010) › PART I - Hospitals, Institutions, And Health Programs (§§ 1 — 343k) › Chapter 20A - Medical Services Administration (§§ 342 — 342r) › § 342l - Annual budget

The annual budget of the Administration shall be prepared sufficiently in advance so that it can be integrated into the total budget of the Department of Health with the prior approval of the Secretary of Health. The Administration’s budget must be prepared in consultation and with the approval of the participating entities. These must state their approval by means of a written certification indicating the volume of services they shall request from the Administration, their acceptance of the cost of said services and that they have enough resources available to finance said services.
The Administration shall not exceed its capacity in rendering services that entail a disbursement of funds greater than what was certified by the participating entities. They, in turn, shall not require services from the Administration which exceed their respective budgets according to what the certification issued by them allows.
When preparing the General Expense Budget, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget shall set aside in a clearly identified item sufficient funds so that the Department of Health and the other participating entities that depend on Legislative appropriations may pay the total of the Administration’s centralized services each year. Once the Budget Joint Resolution becomes effective, the Secretary of the Treasury shall remit to the Administration the total amount of the funds thus set aside to pay the centralized services corresponding to the Department of Health and to the other participating entities.
When, due to the lack of liquidity of the Commonwealth Treasury or for any other valid reason, the Secretary cannot remit the total amount of funds appropriated, he may then remit a fourth (¼) part of the appropriation on the first day of the first month of each quarter, that is, in July, October, January, and April of each year. These advances shall be liquidated at the close of each fiscal year based on the periodic invoices submitted by the Administration. The frequency of the invoices shall be determined by the Administration.
The Director of the Office of Management and Budget as well as the Secretary of the Treasury shall ascertain that the amounts set aside for this purpose are sufficient to meet the annual obligations of the participating entities with the Administration, based on the volume of services the Administration has agreed to provide to said entities.
When, due to an oversight or any other reason, the funds set aside are not sufficient to meet the obligations for the year, the Director of the Bureau of Management and Budget shall be responsible for producing the needed amounts through the mechanism of a transfer of funds from the resources of the corresponding government agencies as long as there has been a notice to such effect from the Administration’s Executive Director early in the fiscal year. These transfers shall be made subject to the provisions of §§ 101—109 of Title 23. In the case of Government Consumer Institutions not subject to the control of the Central Government, they shall present a certified resolution from its governing entity, whether it be a governing board, board of directors, municipal legislature or other entity, that the funds have been duly budgeted on the books and set aside to pay for such services. In the case of non-Government consumer institutions, they shall render to the Administrator at the beginning of each fiscal year financial statements duly certified by a certified public accountant in which it is certified under oath that the funds for the payment of the services to be rendered by the Administration have been set aside and on the books for this purpose. Moneys thus set aside may not be used for any other purpose than the appropriation corresponding to the payment of centralized services provided by the Administration. Provided, That the amount of the moneys to be set aside shall be based on the experience of former years as determined by the Administration and based on the projected volume of services, costs, inflation and any other pertinent factor.
Whereas the Administration has its own legal status, independent and separate from any other administration or body created or to be created in the future pursuant to the provisions of § 342b of this title, none of the consumer institutions may compensate the debts it may incur with the Administration with credits it may have against any other of the consumer institutions or its participating entities.
In order to assure the faithful compliance of the payment obligations contracted by each consumer institution with the Administration, the Secretary of the Treasury shall withhold from whatever funds are pending remittance to any of the participating entities whose budget is not subject to control by the Office of Management and Budget, including the funds corresponding to the Federal Medicaid Program, an amount sufficient to satisfy overdue accounts with the Administration. A notice and certification to that effect by the Executive Director which has not been contested satisfactorily by the institution concerned within ninety (90) days after having received a copy of said notice which shall be sent by the Administration shall suffice. For the purpose of this provision, it shall be understood that an account has been contested satisfactorily when the objections are duly itemized, audited and certified by a recognized firm of certified public accountants. Once the ninety (90) days have elapsed, the Secretary of the Treasury shall immediately remit the funds so withheld to the Administration.
When any amount of money owed to the Administration by an instrumentality, municipality or political subdivision of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico which operates with funds that are separate and independent from the Government, and which debt cannot be collected through the Department of the Treasury, the Executive Director shall certify and serve notice on the chief executive officer of said instrumentality, municipality or political subdivision of said debt. Upon receipt of the notice and certification of debt, said executive shall withhold from the appropriations, funds or resources belonging to the entity or person indebted to the Administration that are in his power, the amount or amounts needed to settle the certified debt, and shall remit them to the Administration immediately.
The withholding of funds mentioned in the two (2) paragraphs above shall apply only to debts contracted with the Administration by the participating entities as of July 1, 1985.
History —June 22, 1978, No. 66, p. 203, § 13; Nov. 11, 1978, No. 3, p. 671, § 1; July 2, 1985, No. 45, p. 160, § 2, retroactive to July 1, 1985.