[Congressional Bills 104th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 168 Introduced in House (IH)]







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.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Hospital Closings Community Relief 
Act of 1995''.

SEC. 2. REQUIREMENT UNDER MEDICAID PROGRAM OF STATE PLAN FOR 
              APPROPRIATELY RESPONDING TO CLOSING OF HOSPITALS.

    Section 1902 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1396a) is 
amended by adding at the end the following new subsection:
    ``(aa)(1) For fiscal year 1997 and subsequent fiscal years, the 
Secretary may not approve a State plan for medical assistance unless--
            ``(A) the State has implemented a plan that, in the event 
        of the closing of any hospital in the State, provides for 
        appropriately responding to the resulting diminishment in the 
        availability of health services in the geographic area 
        involved;
            ``(B) with respect to the plan required in subparagraph 
        (A), the plan requires that--
                    ``(i) any hospital in the State making a decision 
                to close inform the State of such decision not later 
                than 1 day after the decision is made;
                    ``(ii) the State provide for appropriate 
                confidentiality with respect to such decision;
                    ``(iii) for the purpose of storing the medical 
                records of the hospital, the records be transferred to 
                the custody of an appropriate private entity selected 
                by the hospital, subject to the approval of the State;
                    ``(iv) the custodian of the medical records 
                maintain appropriate confidentiality with respect to 
                the records, and organize the records in a manner 
                sufficient to ensure that the records concerning any 
                particular individual can be retrieved expeditiously;
                    ``(v) the medical records concerning an individual 
                be made available to a health care professional upon 
                the request of the individual;
                    ``(vi) the principal geographic area served by the 
                hospital be identified; and
                    ``(vii) not later than 30 days after the hospital 
                is closed, the residents of such geographic area be 
                informed, to the extent practicable, of the fact of the 
                closing, of alternative sources of health care, and of 
                the fact that the medical records of the hospital have 
                been stored and are available with respect to future 
                health care;
            ``(C) the plan under subparagraph (A) specifies the details 
        of the manner in which the requirements established in 
        subparagraph (B) will be met;
            ``(D) with respect to such requirements, the plan under 
        subparagraph (A) satisfies such additional criteria as the 
        Secretary may establish; and
            ``(E) the Secretary determines that the plan meets the 
        requirements of this paragraph.
    ``(2) For fiscal year 1996, the Secretary may not approve a State 
plan for medical assistance unless the State provides assurances 
satisfactory to the Secretary that the State is making reasonable 
progress toward the development of the plan described in paragraph 
(1).''.

SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS REGARDING APPROPRIATE NOTIFICATION OF 
              HOSPITAL CLOSINGS.

    It is the sense of the Congress that not less than 60 days prior to 
the termination of any service or the closure of any facility, a 
hospital providing services to any urban, suburban, or rural area 
should notify the community it serves, its employees, and all 
appropriate government agencies and health care organizations of such 
termination or closure.

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