BILL NUMBER: SB 896 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JUNE 21, 2006
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 18, 2006
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JUNE 9, 2005
AMENDED IN SENATE MAY 10, 2005
AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 28, 2005
INTRODUCED BY Senator Runner
FEBRUARY 22, 2005
An act to amend Section 4011.10 of the Penal Code, relating to
inmates , and declaring the urgency thereof, to take effect
immediately .
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 896, as amended, Runner Inmates: health care services.
Existing law authorizes the Department of Corrections and
Rehabilitation, county sheriffs, and police chiefs to
to contract with providers of emergency health care
services.
This bill would, in addition, allow other public agencies that
contract for emergency health services to contract with providers for
emergency health care services for care to local law enforcement
patients.
Existing law provides that specified associations convene a
working group to address fiscal issues relating to the provision of
this contracted emergency medical health services. This bill would
provide that to the extent that these contracts result in a
disproportionate share of local law enforcement inmates being treated
at any one hospital or system of hospitals, this working group shall
address this issue.
This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an
urgency statute.
Vote: majority 2/3 . Appropriation:
no. Fiscal committee: no. State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 4011.10 of the Penal Code is amended to read:
4011.10. (a) It is the intent of the Legislature in enacting this
section to provide county sheriffs, chiefs of police, and directors
or administrators of local detention facilities with an incentive to
not engage in practices designed to avoid payment of legitimate
emergency health care costs for the treatment or examination of
persons lawfully in their custody, and to promptly pay those costs as
requested by the provider of services. Further, it is the intent of
the Legislature to encourage county sheriffs, chiefs of police, and
directors or administrators of local detention facilities to bargain
in good faith when negotiating a service contract with hospitals
providing emergency health care services. The Legislature has set a
date of January 1, 2009, for this section to be repealed, and does
not intend to delete or extend that date if county sheriffs, chiefs
of police, and directors or administrators have not complied with the
intent of the Legislature, as expressed in this subdivision.
(b) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a county sheriff,
police chief or other public agency that contracts for emergency
health services, may contract with providers of emergency health care
services for care to local law enforcement patients. Hospitals that
do not contract with the county sheriff, police chief, or other
public agency that contracts for emergency health care services shall
provide emergency health care services to local law enforcement
patients at a rate equal to 110 percent of the hospital's actual
costs according to the most recent Hospital Annual Financial Data
report issued by the Office of Statewide Health Planning and
Development, as calculated using a cost-to-charge ratio.
(c) A county sheriff or police chief shall not request the release
of an inmate from custody for the purpose of allowing the inmate to
seek medical care at a hospital, and then immediately rearrest the
same individual upon discharge from the hospital, unless the hospital
determines this action would enable it to bill and collect from a
third-party payment source.
(d) The California Hospital Association, the University of
California, the California State Sheriffs' Association and the
California Police Chiefs' Association shall, immediately upon
enactment of this section, convene the Inmate Health Care and Medical
Provider Fair Pricing Working Group. The working group shall consist
of at least six members from the California Hospital Association and
the University of California, and six members from the California
State Sheriffs' Association and the California Police Chiefs'
Association. Each organization should give great weight and
consideration to appointing members of the working group with diverse
geographic and demographic interests. The working group shall meet
at least three times annually to identify and resolve industry issues
that create fiscal barriers to timely and affordable emergency
inmate health care. In addition, the working group shall address
issues including, but not limited to, inmates being admitted for care
and later rearrested and any other fiscal barriers to hospitals
being able to enter into fair market contracts with public agencies.
To the extent that the rate provisions of this statute result in a
disproportionate share of local law enforcement patients being
treated at any one hospital or system of hospitals, the working group
shall address this issue. No reimbursement is required under this
provision.
(e) Nothing in this section shall require or encourage a hospital
or public agency to replace any existing arrangements that any city
police chief, county sheriff, or other public agency that contracts
for emergency health services for care to local law enforcement
patients.
(f) An entity that provides ambulance or any other emergency or
nonemergency response service to a sheriff or police chief, and that
does not contract with their departments for that service, shall be
reimbursed for the service at the rate established by Medicare.
Neither the sheriff nor the police chief shall reimburse a provider
of any of these services that their department has not contracted
with at a rate that exceeds the provider's reasonable and allowable
costs, regardless of whether the provider is located within or
outside of California.
(g) For the purposes of this section, "reasonable and allowable
costs" shall be defined in accordance with Part 413 of Title 42 of
the Code of Federal Regulations and federal Centers for Medicare and
Medicaid Services Publication Numbers 15.1 and 15.2.
(h) For purposes of this section, in those counties in which the
sheriff does not administer a jail facility, a director or
administrator of a local department of corrections established
pursuant to Section 23013 of the Government Code is the person who
may contract for services provided to jail inmates in the facilities
he or she administers in those counties.
(i) This section is repealed as of January 1, 2009.
SEC. 2. This act is an urgency statute necessary
for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety
within the meaning of Article IV of the Constitution and shall go
into immediate effect.
The facts constituting the necessity are: In order to ensure that
existing arrangements for emergency health services for care to local
law enforcement patients are maintained, it is necessary that this
bill take effect immediately.