Senate Bill No. 161
(By Senators Love, Hunter, White, McKenzie, Foster and Kessler)
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[Introduced January 19, 2007; referred to the Committee on Health
and Human Resources; 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 two new sections, designated §31-20-30 and
§31-20-31, all relating to providing cost-saving measures in
connection with providing medical care in regional jails;
allowing the imposition of reasonable medical copays under
certain circumstances for medical services rendered; and
limiting payments to outside providers of medical services to
amounts no greater than the reimbursement rate applicable
under the Department of Health and Human Resources Medicaid
Program.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended
by adding thereto two new sections, designated §31-20-30 and
§31-20-31, all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 20. WEST VIRGINIA REGIONAL JAIL AND CORRECTIONAL FACILITY AUTHORITY.
§31-20-30. Charges assessed against inmates for medical services.
(a) The authority is authorized to assess inmates serving a
sentence in any regional jail reasonable charges for health care
and treatment services provided to them. 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) A reasonable charge may not exceed the sum of three
dollars 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 laws 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
authority, including heart disease and diabetes;
(6) Staff-initiated care, including follow-up and referral
visits;
(7) Preventive services that the authority determines are to
be provided or made available to all inmates, including services
related to disease prevention and promotion of proper health
habits; and
(8) Other services as may be exempted by rule of the
authority.
(c) No inmate may be denied any necessary billable medical
service because of inability to pay the charge.
(d) 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.
§31-20-31. Limitation on reimbursement rate to medical service
providers for services outside regional jail
facilities.
Effective the first day of July, two thousand seven, the
authority or its contracted medical provider may pay to an outside
provider of a medical service for a person residing in a regional
jail an amount no greater than the reimbursement rate applicable to
that provider and that service established by rule of the
Department of Health and Human Resources Medicaid Program. This
limitation applies to all medical care services, goods, prescription drugs and medications provided to a person who is in
the custody of regional jail and is provided these services outside
of the regional jail.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to provide cost-saving
measures in connection with providing medical care in regional
jails. The bill would allow the imposition of minimal medical
copays certain medical services rendered and limit payments to
outside providers of medical services to amounts no greater than
the reimbursement rate applicable under the Department of Health
and Human Resources Medicaid Program.
The sections in this bill are new; therefore, strike-throughs
and underscoring have been omitted.
This bill is recommended for introduction and passage during
the 2007 Regular Session of the Legislature by the Legislative
Oversight Committee on the Regional Jail and Correctional Facility
Authority.
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