2020 New Mexico Statutes
Chapter 27 - Public Assistance
Article 5 - Indigent Hospital and County Health Care
Section 27-5-3 - Public assistance provisions.

A. A hospital shall not be paid from the fund under the Indigent Hospital and County Health Care Act for costs of an indigent patient for services that have been determined by the department to be eligible for medicaid reimbursement.

B. No action for collection of claims under the Indigent Hospital and County Health Care Act shall be allowed against an indigent patient who is medicaid eligible for medicaid covered services, nor shall action be allowed against the person who is legally responsible for the care of the indigent patient during the time that person is medicaid eligible.

History: 1953 Comp., § 13-2-14, enacted by Laws 1965, ch. 234, § 3; 1984, ch. 101, § 1; 1993, ch. 321, § 3; 2003, ch. 413, § 1; 2014, ch. 79, § 5.

The 2014 amendment, effective March 12, 2014, eliminated the authority to transfer funds to the sole community provider fund or the county-supported medicaid fund; and in Subsection A, deleted the former second sentence which permitted counties to transfer funds to the sole community provider fund or the county-supported medicaid fund.

The 2003 amendment, effective June 20, 2003, in Subsection A, deleted "county indigent hospital claims" following "from the" twice, deleted "any" following "Care Act for", deleted "human services" following "determined by the", and deleted "from that department" following "for Medicaid reimbursement".

The 1993 amendment, effective on the date that the human services department is notified in writing that the amendment to the state medicaid plan has been approved by the federal health care financing administration, rewrote the section heading and Subsection A, and substituted "and County Health Care" for "Claims"and "medicaid eligible for medicaid covered services" and "medicaid eligible" for "a welfare recipient" in Subsection B.

Compiler's notes. — Subsection A of § 22, Laws 1993, ch. 321, provides that §§ 3, 6, 10, 15, 16 and 18 (27-5-3, 27-5-6, 27-5-6.1, 27-5-7.1, 27-5-11 and 27-5-12.2 NMSA 1978) are effective the date that the human services department is notified in writing that the amendment to the state medicaid plan has been approved by the federal health care financing administration. The human services department was advised by letter dated May 20, 1993, that the United States Department of Health and Human Services had approved the amendment of New Mexico's medicaid plan "to add a payment provision for sole community hospitals (SCH), effective July 1, 1993, and a payment provision for indirect medical education (IME) costs incurred by teaching hospitals, effective August 1, 1992". Chapter 321, Laws 1993, contained an emergency clause. The human services department published notice of the approval in the New Mexican on June 21, 1993.

Contribution to state medicaid program. — A county does not have authority under the Indigent Hospital and County Health Care Act to contribute, directly, money from its county indigent hospital claims fund [county health care assistance fund] to the indigent hospital claims funds of other counties. However, nothing in the Indigent Hospital and County Health Care Act prohibits a county from transferring money from its indigent fund to the sole community provider fund to match federal funds for the state medicaid program. A county may, therefore, indirectly benefit other counties by utilizing the resources of its indigent fund to augment the funds necessary to match federal funds for the support of the state medicaid program. 2007 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 07-05.