Distressed Hospital Loan Program.

The California Health Facilities Financing Authority Act authorizes the California Health Facilities Financing Authority to, among other things, make loans from the continuously appropriated California Health Facilities Financing Authority Fund to participating health institutions, as defined, for financing or refinancing the acquisition, construction, or remodeling of health facilities. This bill would create the Distressed Hospital Loan Program, until January 1, 2032, for the purpose of providing loans to not-for-profit hospitals and public hospitals, as defined, in significant financial distress, or to governmental entities representing a closed hospital to prevent the closure or facilitate the reopening of a closed hospital. The bill would require, subject to an appropriation by the Legislature, the Department of Health Care Access and Information to administer the program and would require the department to enter into an interagency agreement with the authority to implement the program. The bill would require the department, in collaboration with the State Department of Health Care Services, the Department of Managed Health Care, and the State Department of Public Health, to develop a methodology to evaluate an at-risk hospital's potential eligibility for state assistance from the program, as specified. Notwithstanding that methodology, the bill would deem a hospital applying for aid to be immediately eligible for state assistance from the program if the hospital has 90 or fewer days cash on hand and has experienced a negative operating margin over the preceding 12 months. The bill would require a hospital or a closed hospital to provide the authority and the department with financial information, in a format determined by the authority, demonstrating the hospital's need for assistance due to financial hardship. The bill would additionally require that the department, in consultation with the authority, develop a loan forgiveness application and approval process, as specified. The bill would specify that the authority and the department may implement these provisions by information notices or other similar instructions, without taking any further regulatory action. This bill would create the Distressed Hospital Loan Program Fund, a continuously appropriated fund, for use by the department and the authority to administer the loan program, as specified. The bill would authorize both the authority and the department to recover administrative costs from the fund, as specified. By creating a continuously appropriated fund, the bill would make an appropriation. Existing law generally requires a health care facility to report specified data to the department, including total inpatient and outpatient revenues by payer, including Medicare and Medi-Cal. Existing law requires the department to adopt regulations regarding the identification and reporting of charity care services, and specifies various obligations to provide hard copies of hospital data reports submitted pursuant to these provisions. This bill would additionally require data for total inpatient and outpatient revenues by payer to include commercial coverage payers. The bill would require a hospital subject to these data reporting requirements to submit a balance sheet detailing the assets, liabilities, and net worth at the end of the quarter as specified by the department. The bill would also remove the provisions regarding regulations related to charity care services and obligations to provide hard copies of hospital data reports. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.