2011 Connecticut Code
Title 19a Public Health and Well-Being
Chapter 368z Office of Health Care Access
Sec. 19a-649. (Formerly Sec. 19a-167f). Uncompensated care. Audits. Annual reports.

      Sec. 19a-649. (Formerly Sec. 19a-167f). Uncompensated care. Audits. Annual reports. (a) The office, in consultation with the Commissioner of Social Services, shall review annually the level of uncompensated care provided by each hospital to the indigent. Each hospital shall file annually with the office its policies regarding the provision of charity care and reduced cost services to the indigent, excluding medical assistance recipients, and its debt collection practices. Each hospital shall obtain an independent audit of the level of charges, payments and discharges by primary payer related to Medicare, medical assistance, CHAMPUS or TriCare and nongovernmental payers as well as the amount of uncompensated care including emergency assistance to families. The results of this audit, including the above information, with an opinion, shall be provided to the office by each hospital by March thirty-first of each year, and the hospital's audited financial statements shall be provided by February twenty-eighth of each year. For purposes of this section, "primary payer" means the payer responsible for the highest percentage of charges for a patient's inpatient or outpatient hospital services. The office shall evaluate the audit and may rely on the information contained in the independent audit or may require such additional audit as it deems necessary.

      (b) Each hospital shall annually report, along with data submitted pursuant to subsection (a) of this section, (1) the number of applicants for charity care and reduced cost services, (2) the number of approved applicants, and (3) the total and average charges and costs of the amount of charity care and reduced cost services provided.

      (P.A. 89-371, S. 7; Nov. Sp. Sess. P.A. 91-2, S. 12, 27; P.A. 93-44, S. 7, 24; 93-229, S. 7, 21; 93-262, S. 1, 87; P.A. 95-257, S. 39, 58; P.A. 03-266, S. 1; P.A. 06-64, S. 13; P.A. 07-149, S. 7.)

      History: Nov. Sp. Sess. P.A. 91-2 authorized commission to perform audits as part of its evaluation; P.A. 93-44 included emergency assistance to families in uncompensated care, required hospitals to obtain an independent audit and file results of audit on February twenty-eighth annually, where previously commission conducted audit or contracted for independent audit, effective April 23, 1993; P.A. 93-229 added provision re audit by primary payer designation, deleted reference re February twenty-eighth audited financial statements on a separate and distinct schedule and added new language re providing required information with an opinion with hospitals financial statements filed on February twenty-eighth and included a definition of "primary payer", effective June 4, 1993; P.A. 93-262 authorized substitution of commissioner and department of social services for commissioner and department of income maintenance, effective July 1, 1993; P.A. 95-257 replaced Commission on Hospitals and Health Care with Office of Health Care Access, effective July 1, 1995; Sec. 19a-167f transferred to Sec. 19a-649 in 1997; P.A. 03-266 designated existing provisions as Subsec. (a) and added new Subsec. (b) re annual report; P.A. 06-64 amended Subsec. (a) by adding reference to "TriCare" and requiring audit results and opinions to be filed separately from audited financial statements by March thirty-first of each year, effective July 1, 2006; P.A. 07-149 amended Subsecs. (a) and (b) by substituting "charity" care for "free" care and further amended Subsec. (a) to delete provision re emergency assistance to families and redefine "primary payer", effective July 1, 2007.