HB 450

Relating to Jefferson County; to amend Section 45-37-243.11 of the Code of Alabama 1975, relating to the Indigent Care Fund; to further provide for the distribution of the proceeds from the funds to the Cooper Green Mercy Health Services or its successors.

Section 1

Section 45-37-243.11 of the Code of Alabama 1975, is amended to read as follows:

§45-37-243.11. (a) There is hereby established for and in the counties subject to this subpart a county indigent care fund herein called the Indigent Care Fund. The Indigent Care Fund shall be used by such counties for any or all of the following purposes: To acquire by construction, eminent domain, or otherwise a county hospital, hospitals, and/or clinics, and to operate, equip, and maintain the same the Cooper Green Mercy Health Services or its successors for the medical care and treatment of indigent persons of such county suffering from illness, injury, disability, or infirmity, including outpatients; and the furnishing of drugs and medicine to such indigent persons, including outpatient care at the county hospital Cooper Green Mercy Health Services or its successors or at a clinic maintained by the county or under contract with the county Cooper Green Mercy Health Services or its successors, also or the operation of an emergency clinic at Cooper Green Mercy Health Services. In addition, the county shall be authorized to may furnish part of the cost of the medical care for those of the county able to pay for only part of their own medical care. (b) Such The county shall be authorized to provide such treatment, care, drugs, and medicines at a county hospital, outpatient clinic, and/or emergency clinic or other hospitals located in such county under a contract between the county and any general hospital approved by the joint commission on accreditation of hospitals in the county Cooper Green Mercy Health Services or its successors. (c) The county shall be authorized to collect for the benefit of the Indigent Care Fund such sums as the county is able to collect from part-pay patients and from any other source or fund, public or private. (d) The county each year shall earmark and set aside in a separate fund not less than twenty-five percent of the county indigent care fund to be used for capital improvements. This requirement shall cease and no longer be binding upon the county after a county hospital has been constructed and fully equipped.

Section 2

This act shall become effective on the first day of the third month following its passage and approval by the Governor, or its otherwise becoming law.