2009 Nebraska Code
Chapter 71 PUBLIC HEALTH AND WELFARE
71-465 Moratorium on new hospital licenses; health care in Nebraska; Health and Human Services Committee of Legislature; study; report.

71-465. Moratorium on new hospital licenses; health care in Nebraska; Health and Human Services Committee of Legislature; study; report.

(1) The Legislature finds that Nebraska's general acute and critical access hospitals provide a foundation of health care throughout the state. This long-established means of providing health care is changing. Because health care delivery is evolving, it is important to assess needs in Nebraska and determine whether licensure and regulation should be changed to reflect current and future practices.

(2) The department shall not accept an application for or issue a license for a new hospital beginning on April 15, 2010, and continuing through September 15, 2011, except that this prohibition shall not apply to an application for or issuance of a license as a critical access hospital or an application for or issuance of a license for any hospital which has begun construction prior to May 1, 2010.

(3) The Health and Human Services Committee of the Legislature shall study health care in Nebraska. The study shall include, but not be limited to:

(a) A comparison of the roles of Nebraska's general acute hospitals, critical access hospitals, ambulatory surgical centers, and other limited service facilities, such as physician-owned hospitals and investor-owned hospitals, and the impact of such hospitals, centers, and facilities on access to services, quality of health care, and cost, including medicaid costs and insurance premiums;

(b) Compliance with the federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act, 42 U.S.C. 1395dd, as such act existed on January 1, 2010;

(c) Referral practices;

(d) Ownership disclosure;

(e) Uncompensated and under-compensated patient care;

(f) Joint ventures among or between hospitals, physicians, and investors;

(g) Reinvestment in facilities;

(h) Examination and definition of community benefits;

(i) Clarification and definition of limited service facilities, such as physician-owned hospitals and investor-owned hospitals, and other definitions as needed; and

(j) The impact of federal health care reform on the items in subdivisions (a) through (i) of this subsection.

(4) The committee shall seek information from resources, including, but not limited to, physicians; representatives of hospitals, ambulatory surgical centers, physician-owned hospitals, investor-owned hospitals, public health agencies, the department, and allied professions such as behavioral health service providers, nurses, pharmacists, and emergency care providers; businesses; consumers; insurers; communities; the Legislative Fiscal Analyst; and the office of Legislative Research.

(5) The committee shall report its findings to the Legislature by December 31, 2010.

Source

Laws 2010, LB999, § 2.
Effective Date: April 15, 2010