Senate Bill No. 658
(By Senator Chafin)
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[Introduced March 21, 2005; referred to the Committee
on Health and Human Resources.]
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A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by
adding thereto a new section, designated §16-5B-8a, relating
to nonprofit hospital participation in commercial retail
property development unrelated to health care; providing
definition of "small nonprofit hospitals"; and protecting
small nonprofit hospitals from potential losses related to
commercial retail developments.
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 §16-5B-8a, to read as
follows:
ARTICLE 5B. HOSPITALS AND SIMILAR INSTITUTIONS.
§16-5B-8a. Limitations on participating in commercial retail
property development activities.
(a) Findings and definition.-- The Legislature finds that certain small nonprofit hospitals licensed under this article, who
engage in commercial retail property development activities
unrelated to providing health care services, unnecessarily risk the
entity's ability to provide health care services to the citizens of
this state. For the purpose of this section, the term "small
nonprofit hospital" shall mean a nonprofit hospital or similar
institution licensed under this article, which has less than one
hundred approved beds.
(b) Limitation on participation in commercial retail property
development activities.-- Any small nonprofit hospital or similar
institution licensed under this article may not expend, either
directly or indirectly through a subsidiary or other affiliated
entity, any funds of the nonprofit hospital in connection with
commercial retail property development activities other than for
support of an in-hospital gift shop or for property developments
which are used solely for the retail sale of pharmaceutical
products, medical supplies, medical devices, medical equipment, or
other retail goods directly related to health care.
(c) License renewal restriction.-- The license of any small
nonprofit hospital violating the limitations provided by this
section shall not be renewed until the hospital comes into
compliance with this section.
NOTE:
The purpose of this bill is to
protect small nonprofit hospitals from potential losses from commercial retail real estate
development activity unrelated to providing health care services.
This section is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.