2006 Louisiana Laws - RS 40:1300.132 — Legislative findings; purpose

§1300.132.  Legislative findings; purpose

A.  The legislature finds that:

(1)  Federal Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) provide most of the health care services required by a substantial number of low income residents living in the state and therefore constitute an invaluable part of the health care delivery system of the state.

(2)  Residents living in rural and medically underserved communities, which consist of sixty-two of the sixty-four Louisiana parishes, have a poorer health status than residents living in other communities in the state and lack access to adequate health care.

(3)  FQHCs are in poor financial condition as a result of payment reductions in the Medicare and Medicaid programs and as a result of the advent and penetration of managed care in the state.

(4)  FQHCs have a difficult time attracting and retaining physicians in their service areas, thereby resulting in a continued shortage of primary health care in the state's medically underserved communities.

(5)  Absent intervention, continued reductions in the Medicare and Medicaid programs, as well as changes in health care reimbursement methodologies and the continued spread of managed care, may result in the closure of the state's FQHCs, thereby jeopardizing the very existence of a vital link in the health care delivery system for residents residing in medically underserved areas of the state.

(6)  FQHCs constitute, in most cases, an important employer of residents from the economically and health distressed areas they serve and thus create a vital economic component of their local communities.

B.  The legislature hereby declares an emergency finding that, absent the enactment of the following provisions, the very existence of Louisiana's FQHCs are imperiled.  The legislature hereby declares that the purpose of this Part is to assure the continued viability of FQHCs.  To that end, the provisions of this Part shall be construed liberally and in favor of the purposes of this Part.

Acts 1997, No. 1473, §1.