Health facilities community benefits.

Existing law makes certain findings and declarations regarding the social obligation of private nonprofit hospitals to provide community benefits in the public interest, and requires these hospitals, among other responsibilities, to adopt and update a community benefits plan for providing community benefits either alone, in conjunction with other health care providers, or through other organizational arrangements. Existing law requires each private nonprofit hospital, as defined, to complete a community needs assessment, as defined, and to thereafter update the community needs assessment at least once every 3 years. Existing law also requires the hospital to file a report on its community benefits plan and the activities undertaken to address community needs with the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development. Existing law requires the statewide office to make the plans available to the public. Existing law requires that each hospital include in its community benefits plan measurable objectives and specific benefits. This bill would declare the necessity of establishing uniform standards for reporting the amount of charity care and community benefits a facility provides to ensure that private nonprofit hospitals and nonprofit multispecialty clinics actually meet the social obligations for which they receive favorable tax treatment, among other findings and declarations. This bill would require a private nonprofit hospital and nonprofit multispecialty clinic, as defined, by January 1, 2016, to develop, in collaboration with the community, a community benefits statement, as specified, and a description of the process for approval of the community benefits statement by the hospital's or clinic's governing board, as specified. This bill would require the hospital or clinic, prior to adopting a community benefits plan, to complete a community needs assessment, as provided. The bill would authorize the hospital or clinic to create a community benefits advisory committee for the purpose of soliciting community input. This bill would require the hospital or clinic to make available to the public a copy of the assessment, file the assessment with the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development, and update the assessment at least every 3 years. This bill would also require a private nonprofit hospital and nonprofit multispecialty clinic, by April 1, 2016, to develop a community benefits plan that includes a summary of the needs assessment and a statement of the community health care needs that will be addressed by the plan, and list the services, as provided, that the hospital or clinic intends to provide in the following year to address community health needs identified in the community health needs assessments. The bill would require the hospital or clinic to make its community health needs assessment and community benefits plan or community health plan available to the public on its Internet Web site and would require that a copy of the assessment and plan be given free of charge to any person upon request. This bill would require a private nonprofit hospital or nonprofit multispecialty clinic, after April 1, 2016, every 2 years to revise and submit its community benefits plan to the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development, as specified, and would allow a hospital or clinic under the common control of a single corporation or other entity to file a consolidated plan, as provided. The bill would require that the governing board of each hospital or clinic adopt the community benefits plan and make it available to the public, as specified. This bill would require the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development to develop and adopt regulations to prescribe a standardized format for community benefits plans, as provided, to provide technical assistance to help private nonprofit hospitals and nonprofit multispecialty clinics exempt from licensure comply with the community benefits provisions, to make public each community health needs assessment and community benefits plan and any comments received regarding those assessments and plans, and to calculate and make public the total value of community benefits provided by hospitals, as specified. This bill would authorize the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development to assess a civil penalty, as provided, against any hospital or clinic that fails to comply with these provisions. This bill would make conforming changes. Under existing law, patients with high medical costs who are at or below 350% of the federal poverty level are eligible to apply for participation under a hospital's charity care policy or discount care policy. A patient with high medical costs is defined as a patient who, among other things, does not receive a discounted rate from the hospital as a result of his or her third-party coverage. This bill would delete that limitation from the definition of a patient with a high medical costs.